To change time and fate
by Hermionechan90
Summary: ... a sacrifice has to be made, Sakura knows that, but is she also ready for what this entails? time travel, genderswitch
1. The beginning

**Chapter 1 the beginning**

**Hollow**

She drags herself through the burned ruins of the once proud city. Left and right on her path there are half decayed corpses. Sakuras brain doesn't acknowledge them, just as it doesn't recognize the warning signals that her body is sending her, the only thing she is feeling is the numbness in her heart. Finally she stops moving as she sits down beside the mangled blond corpse whose eyes stare hollow into the sky.

**Despair**

For a second Sakura let's herself hope as the body beside her twitches and the eyes move. Then the hope turns into despair as the normally sky blue eyes turn red and focus on her.

**Kyuubi**

The demon grins grotesquely at her and says "How does it feel to be the last of your _beloved_ village?" and sneers at the slowly dying kunoichi, before he starts chuckling while blood trickles out of his dead vessels mouth. "How does it feel to die?" she shoots calmly back, her answer shuts him up and he glares hatefully at her.

**Offer**

"You could prevent this,… if you are willing to pay the price", the sentence cuts through the choking silence.

**Enquiry**

"How,…" she trails of as she stares at the destroyed Hokage monument. Her body and mind strangely calm and listless.

**Price**

"Tze, there is a reason why time travel is said to be impossible,… the deities don't want the humans to try,… even the demons are cautioned against it,… to change time and fate a sacrifice has to be made,…" Calm green eyes wander over the decimated hospital and the turned over water tower. "And what is this price that has to be paid?" the question rings through the emptiness of the ruins after Kyuubi stopped explaining. "… Nobody knows for certain,… only the deities know, whether humans nor demons can judge how high the price for changing time is,…".

**Decision**

Slowly standing up on her ever weakening legs Sakura looks down on the dying body before her with resolute eyes "What do I have to do?".  
Silence than the prisoner inside the blond corpse starts laughing,… it was an awful sound.

**Jutsu**

"…, Tiger and Ox after that you release all the chakra you have and think about where you want to go,…" "That's all?" comes the skeptical reply "Tze for course not,… after the jutsu,… you have to kill yourself" answers the gleeful demon.  
Sighing Sakura turns to the setting sun that had started to turn orange and red before slowly disappearing at the horizon. Then she calmly goes through the handseals and thinks about preventing Konohas downfall. With a wishful smile she slits her throat as she stares at the dying sun.  
A haunting laugh is the last thing she hears before everything goes black.


	2. Arrival

**Chapter 2 Arrival**

**Darkness**

She was falling slowly and steadily in the darkness that was surrounding her. The darkness was comforting and numbing at the same time. Sakura felt at peace, her nerves were being soothed.  
Slowly she was losing the feeling in her limps first her feet, than her arms until the only thing she felt was her steadily beating heart.

**Whispers**

Sakura was drifting in and out, sometimes she could hear voices but she wasn't sure what they were talking about "Please, please wake up, we are so worried honey,…" and another time "Did you hear?" "Yeah, poor child, they aren't sure if the coma is permanent or not,…".

**Beeping**

Sakura was annoyed, who had dared to interrupt her sleep? The steady beeping noise was right beside her left ear and it didn't STOP.

**Awaking**

Slowly the dark veil that surrounded her body was lifted. Sakura tried to access her chakra and snapped for air, she couldn't access her chakra! Hyperventilating she tried and tried and tried, the beeping sound beside her ear was becoming more rapid with every second.  
Then with a snap her eyes were open, just in time to see nurses burst into her room, followed by a brown haired doctor.

**Relief**

Sakura could feel the chakra of the doctor that was checking her over, she was so relieved that she could have cried, thank god she still could sense chakra!

**Confusion**

"Well well, aren't you a little miracle? We weren't sure if you ever would awake again my boy." The kind doctor said. Sakura was confused but still smiled until the hospital personnel were out of the room. Did the doctor just call her a boy?

**Panic**

'Oh crap, oh crap, this can't be happening' that sentence was repeated in Sakuras' mind again and again, she just checked her body out,… her younger body,… her new younger and very very male body!  
The time travelling kunoichi burst out into to hysterical giggles, Kyuubi was right she would have never guessed that her price for changing time was the loss of her older female form for a younger male one.

**Akwardness**

"You don't recognize us?" "But, but,…" the kind looking woman burst into tears and the man beside her had to start his sentence a few times before Sakura could make sense of it "Shinobu,… we are your parents,…".

**Devastation**

"We are sorry but whatever your son was attacked with attacked his chakra coils, the damage is quite extensive,…" The couple beside Sakuras bed were looking at each other and then at their 'son' "And, and what does that mean for him?" "It won't hinder him in his daily life,… but he will never be able to start a shinobi carrier, the damage will prevent his use of ninjutsu and genjutsu,…"Both parents and doctor were preoccupied with their talk that they didn't see how the life in their sons eyes died.  
'I'll never be a kunoichi again, never be useful again, won't be able to prevent,…' in this second a part of Sakura died.


	3. Adjusting

**Chapter 3 Adjusting**

**Credibility**

The claim of amnesia isn't questioned by the medical personnel, why should they? After all Kyuusai Shinobu is a small five year old civilian boy that got in the way of a rouge ninja.

**Adjusting**

Slowly but steadily the time traveler is adjusting to his new environment and smaller body. He spends a lot time in taking in his now changed perspective and his new parents.  
And finally finds out of the deep abyss called depression.

**Gender confusion**

After Shinobu was released from the hospital he,… she tried to figure out the gender change, what this would entail and finally how she,… he felt about it.  
After an hour long argument with her second persona Sakura decided that for her sanity she would see herself from now on as an he and her past…, future…, other life! as female.

**Potential**

The more time was flowing by the more Shinobu realized the potential of his body.  
Whereas during the first week after his release everything was blurred and clouded due to tiredness, now everything started to clear up around him.  
His sight, his coordination and especially his way of thinking and categorizing,…  
During the previous life Sakura had an above average IQ but she had to repeat every single new piece of information until they were burned into her head.  
Now though, in this body it was a completely different experience. Every page he was reading he could perfectly recall, and even better, he could connect the information with Sakuras hard earned knowledge from the previous life.  
This discovery gave Shinobu hope that this trip to the past wasn't in vain.

**Knowledge**

Before Shinobu could work on a viable battle plan for the future, he had to follow one of the basic shinobi rules… the gathering of information… Even now 2 weeks after his arrival the time traveler had absolute no idea what date it was.  
So the first thing he did after eating breakfast was covertly taking the newspaper from the kitchen table that his father left there.

**Bafflement**

Shinobus dark blue eyes widened after he finished skimming over the articles. It was the 4th of July xxxx , three years before the Kyuubi attack.  
On the front page news of the third great Shinobi war, Narutos father hadn't even been made Hokage, he was just a celebrated jounin that was making himself a name at that time.

**Caught**

"Honey what are you doing with these books? They don't have any pictures!" "… Shinobu, do you know how to read?"

**School**

Shinobu was the youngest in his class and if you listened to the teachers also the shiest and cutest kid in the whole year. His shoulder long midnight blue hair and same colored eyes that were sparkling while taking in new information emphasized his image even more.  
After the second week they would also call him the smartest, a little genius.  
The teachers and also his parents didn't know what they should do with him, he learned at a so rapid pace that traditional learning didn't seem to be effective.  
So little Shinobu was educated at home with a teacher coming once a week to test his knowledge and help with problems.  
This freed up a lot of Shinobus time and so he spend most of it either in one of the parks in walking distance of his parents house or at the sidewall of the Hokage tower.

**Curiosity**

"Hello there little one,…" a gentle voice interrupted Shinobus musings on the history of Snow country and its future. He looked up and his eyes became wide. Before him stood Namikaze Minato,… hypnotized he stared at the face of the soon to be fourth Hokage. Said blonde mistook his silence and huge eyes as a sign of shyness "Hey, hey calm down I didn't want to scare you,…, I see you every other day sitting here with one book or another. And I was wondering why you don't go to school? I'm sure they would take you early on,…"  
"Oh,… yes I tried school but they didn't know what to do with me, I was learning to fast,…" piped Shinobu in a desperate attempt to fill the awkward silence that hang between them after Minato ended. "And what are you doing now?" the curious blonde asked "I'm getting home schooled, a teacher checks on my learning progress once a week." Shinobu shrugged with his shoulders and looked at his dangling feet.


	4. Meetings

**Chapter 4: Meetings**

**Kakashi**

Theoretically Shinobu knew that sooner or later he would meet the people he had known in his previous life. But nothing could prepare him for the sight of his deceased sensei.  
He knew that Kakashi could be arrogant if he wanted to, but this chibi version took the cake, what a BRAT!  
Minato had introduced the two, because he was of the opinion that geniuses should stick together and deep down he hoped it would help Kakashi with his superiority complex.  
Before even giving his name Kakashi stated self assured "That squirt is that so called genius? He doesn't look like one to me!" That sentence left Shinobu reeling "And even if he is, he's just a civilian" dismissed the young shinobi the small five year old.  
With narrowed eyes Shinobu took in Kakashi's frame and said in a sugar sweet voice "Is that what you think? … Okay,…" and turned back to his book. In his head he was counting the seconds until Kakashi would respond to his remark. "… you are a strange one, … don't you get it? I insulted you just now,…" "Hhm? Oh yeah I did, but the opinion of a third rate ninja doesn't really matter to me." Shinobu said in a slightly bored tone.  
"Why, you… I'm a chunin !" "And?"

**Orochimaru**

How could he forget about the traitorous snake? He was one of the key factors to the destruction of Konoha! Shinobu berated himself as he read the article about the Sannin and his new missing nin status.  
His thoughts turned to two of Orochimaru's victims. Anko and Tenzou,…  
He vowed that he would help those two.

**Shogi**

On a Thursday morning stumbled over the shogi board of a Shikamaru double that was lying in the grass of Konoha's south east park. Nara Shikaku was 21 years at that time and was a carbon copy of his future son, with the exception of the scars that ran down his face.  
Said scars looked pretty new, and with all the bandages on the jounin's body Shinobu concluded that he just came back from the frontline and was recovering until he was sent out again.  
The relaxed shinobi watched the little boy that apologized for knocking down his board and then placed the pieces back into the start position.  
As Shinobu finished the Nara clan heir asked him if he knew shogi, "only the basics" answered a suddenly shy 5 year old, and it was true, Sakura never really had an interest in the board game before, but now as Shinobu he would love to learn.  
And so both shinobi and civilian genius found an unexpected shogi partner and spent a very relaxing afternoon in the park.

**Dango**

Shinobu made it a habit to accompany his new mother every second Sunday to the farmers market.  
It gave him an excellent opportunity to further his image as a polite and honest but shy little genius and pick up the mood of the civilians. That he could spend some time with his new parent was also a bonus.  
During one of these trips he picked up on the angry and nervous atmosphere in the market place.  
He soon found the catalyst for the change in the otherwise cheerful atmosphere.  
Little Anko sat on one of the park benches on the park side of the square and was eating dango while sending glares back to the vendors that were shooting them at her. She couldn't have been older than 8 or 9.  
Even his kind mother narrowed her eyes for a second before she ushered him to the vegetable stand.  
After taking in the whole picture he was thinking about how he could defuse the situation a little bit.  
In a voice that carried slightly he asked his mother why everybody was glaring at that girl. After some hhming and harrumphing the vendor answered him "Because she is the student of that snake bastard Orochimaru!" his voice was very loud and so most of the attention was suddenly on Shinobu, his mother and the vendor.  
With a searching gaze he looked at his mother and stated clearly "So if my sensei does something stupid, I'll get blamed? That sounds not very smart to me." And with a shrug he moved away from his shocked mother and the gapping vendor.  
Two stands over he found a dango shop. With the little pocket money that he had started to receive as soon as he started to study at home Shinobu was able to buy four dango sticks.  
Purposely he started to walk straight to the little purple haired girl that still sat on the bench.  
Sitting down beside her he offered her one of the dango sticks and stated clearly so that everybody in the near surroundings could hear his introduction "Hello my name is Kyuusai Shinobu, it's nice to meet you, don't listen to the grownups, to make you re-spon-si-ble for you sensei's actions is just plain dumb!" he carefully pronounced the world responsible like children do when they have learned a new world.  
Hesitant Anko took the offered Dango stick. After biting into the first ball she relaxed and the two were sitting the rest of the morning in comforting silence. It was only once interrupted by a quiet "Thank you,…".


	5. Discoveries

**anon: **_Thanks for being my first review, I will try to make the chapters longer but no promises._

**melyss: **_This story has been spooking in my head for nearly a year and I finally gave in ;)___

Kekkei Genkai bloodline limit

**Chapter 5: Discoveries**

**Mistake**

Shinobu was snapping for air, again and again he tried to stay afloat, to not give into the temptation of giving up and just let the water masses drag him into one of the dangerous water vortexes.  
His muscles were aching, his throat and nose were burning from the inhaled water and his skin was frozen.  
Oh how he regretted his curiosity that led him to the treacherous river that had been filled to the rim with the last few days of heavy raining. In Sakuras time the river was taken underground and fed the freshwater reservoirs of Konoha and so he wasn't prepared for the deadly force of nature that ripped him away from the safe shore and was now trying to drown him.  
Again and again he tried to access his chakra, his brain was screaming at him to DO SOMETHING! Nothing, he couldn't channel his chakra outside – he could feel it moving faster and faster through his body but he couldn't access it!  
Tried and desperate Shinobu was about to give up, he couldn't do anything about the situation and with a last breath of the precious air he resigned himself to drowning.  
His body was going numb, Shinobu could feel it, the water was dragging him down to the bottom of the river. It was dark and cold down there and he was running rapidly out of air.  
With a last desperate attempt of a dying human he looked up to the water surface and wished to break it, concentrating only on that thought.

**Survival**

Shinobu was completely unprepared for the sudden feeling of chakra around him. He could feel it moving around him twirling, caressing him, but it wasn't his,… it felt, he couldn't describe it. Wild, without any intent, playful and … powerful, dear god was it powerful.  
With a determination that he only knew from his previous life's memories he concentrated on his surroundings and willed himself to break the surface.  
Slowly the water around him shifted and started to press him up to the surface, Shinobu had to hurry, he could feel how his consciousness was fading away.  
With a last desperate push he broke through the surface, breathing in the much needed air.  
The young boy was concentrating only on breathing, so that he didn't realize at first that he was perched on the surface of the water and not sinking in. He stood on the water like only trained shinobi could.

**Wonder **

Now that Shinobu knew how the chakra that saved him felt, he could see and feel it everywhere.  
In the plants, the ground, the animals, even in the air! And this chakra was completely different from the chakra his other life was used to.  
It had moods and the taste was different than a humans or summons chakra, the flavor was so much richer, than Shinobu had ever thought possible.  
It reminded him a little bit of Kyuubi's chakra, just as wild but not malicious, just free,… yes the best way to describe the feel of the chakra was freedom.  
Nature chakra was truly something amazing!

**Experiment**

It wasn't easy to replicate the effect that saved his life a week ago.  
The first few days it completely eluded the young boy, and he was slowly getting really frustrated.  
After mediating on the problem he tried again and the first success showed itself when Shinobu stopped trying to force the chakra to his will. Instead he guided it, got a feel for the mood of the particular stream of chakra.  
Yes, a chakra stream.  
During his mediation he felt the chakra network the waived through the ground and into every tree, river and especially into the walls surrounding Konoha.  
The chakra that flowed through the streams and smaller branches, was tinted with the particular strong emotions from the humans that walked above them.  
For example the stream that run under the academy, and across the playground to the small wood enclave, the chakra felt loud, cheerful, boisterous, happy and very, very playful.  
On the other hand the chakra that came out under the Uchiha clan compound felt fiery, arrogant, full of itself and tasted a tiny bit like sulfur.  
Shinobu found that the easiest chakra to direct was the one running through the market place that was most of the time very cheerful and the chakra stream that passed under the Nara compound, which felt slow and lazy and very, very intelligent to Shinobu.

**Side effect**

Thanks to the mediating and directing of the nature chakra, Shinobu grew very sensitive to chakra generally.  
And one day he discovered a rather particular side effect that his crippled chakra system had on his body.  
Because the chakra that was built and trained in his system, thanks to his nature chakra manipulating, couldn't find an outlet, it started to improve his body.  
That could also be the reason why his brain was getting more and more organized and was able to integrate information quicker with each day.  
His body had been changing since the real Shinobu had his accident, and Sakuras soul had just taken over the soulless body that had been in a coma for weeks and was now receiving the perks.  
Also his muscles and bones were improving, he wasn't defined like clan children his age, and he would never be able to build up muscles like the shinobi, not without the training that he will never receive in this time line, but the texture was altered.  
His reflexes were getting better and he theorized that his bones were also densifing, and thus harder to break.  
So even without exercising daily he was in a pretty good shape.  
Shinobu would have to keep an eye on other developments, and especially keep his heavily improved body away from prying eyes.  
He was very aware how this perfect body would attract attention from the wrong people. Especially not during war times!  
And he really didn't want to fall into the Kekkei Genkai clause, that would force him to marry 2 or more girls, and impregnate them until he had his own clan. No thank you!


	6. Author's note

Greetings to the fine folk that moderate our site.

Myself, along with many, have been writing and posting on your fine site for years now, some of the better examples of up and coming writers out there are now suddenly finding some of the stories we've come to love at risk of being removed without the chance to even rectify our errors.

For some, that means the permanent loss of a story. While I don't have anything that I believe violates your terms of use, there are those out there that are never able to recover a story in its original form, this is something I find to be almost worthy of a legal action, as while we cannot claim ownership of a character, the stories are OURS and simply destroying them is something that is inexcusable.

It's quite easy to simply add an MA rating, additional filters or even a simple requirement for a free membership to read the stories presented here, and would cut down on hateful anonymous reviews and posts at the same time, so I have to question as to why such a thing, in all this time, simply wasn't added.

If you're worried about falsification of a registration then have an appropriate disclaimer and then there can be no dispute, you took your steps and the PARENTS didn't monitor their children, if that is even your concern. If it is more of a personal view or desire then please at least let people know and give them a chance to remove a story that you and yours find offensive, most people on the site are actually rather cordial when it comes to such requests.

While I cannot say for sure if this letter will even reach those that may be willing to listen, of if it's more akin to a wide spectrum purge in preparation for something bigger, please understand that you are going to be looseing a LARGE number of your writers, and thus your income from a lack of readers if there is not some level of action taken to help with this situation.

For those that may agree with this, please feel free to sign on and send this to the support server, maybe we can get some movement on this.

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	7. Meetings 2

**Melyss**: _Don't be impatient;_ _I have something planed for dear Shinobu-kun ;)_

Yakiniku: bite sized meat and vegetables grilled on a grid-iron  
Shogi: board game  
Shinobi: male ninja  
Ohayo: Hello, greetings  
Kikaichu: Aburame bugs

**Chapter 6 Meetings 2**

**Barbeque**

During one of Shinobus walks through Konoha Shinobu smelled the most delicious barbeque aroma.  
Curious he was following it until he reached a smaller market place. On one side, of what he now recognized as the Akimichi clan compound there was a small stand, and behind it he could recognize a younger Chouza talking to Shikaku, who sat on one of the side benches.  
The future clan head of the Akimichi had bandages on his upper torso and arms, he also favored his left hand, and served the food only with the right.  
The blue haired boy cocked his head cutely and made his determined way to the two shinobis.  
With his meager height he was just tall enough to look over the counter. He was aware how the women around him started cooing about the adorable blue haired child.  
"Ohayo vendor-san, ohayo Nara-san, one yakiniku please." Shinobu spoke to the two and widened his eyes even further to get the puppy eyes effect.  
While Chouza was chuckling and serving the little civilian his food, Nara returned his greeting "Ohayo Shinobu-kun."  
"Oh, you two know each other?" Chouza was a little astonished about the acquaintance of his long time teammate and the little boy in front of him.  
While Shinobu gave Chouza the right amount of money, Shikaku gave him the short version of his encounter of the little genius and promptly introduced Chouza to Shinobu.  
Said little genius sat down on one of the other benches and was munching his food like a chipmunk, which wormed another round of cooing noises out of the present women.  
After he was finished with the snack, Shikaku sat down beside him, in his right hand a portable shogi set. Eyes alight with excitement Shinobu threw the paper plate into the dustbin and sat across the Nara heir.  
The two spent the rest of the day playing shogi and snacking on the small treats Chouza gave them for free.

**Bugs**

The first time Shinobu came across the Aburame clan in this time line was when he was exploring the eastern woods near the Hokage monument and quite a long way from his parents home.  
In Sakuras time there was a fence around the area and a small lab because of the many different healing plants that grew on the fertile ground. Now though there were only trees, flowers and grass.  
Shinobu was carefully pressing another flower, when he felt the nearing chakra forces, they were both male, one agitated the other calm and collected.  
The little boy didn't react when he felt them sneaking up on him, it wouldn't do to give away that he could feel them, he had expected being found, after all he was sure that especially in this time of war, places with natural resources were closely watched.  
Luckily he had a good excuse for being here and pressing flowers. One week from now Konoha celebrated Mother's day and his mother loved wild flowers. So he was pressing some flowers for her and putting them into a fancy album that he bought a few days ago.  
He was sure that the Shinobi wouldn't find it suspicious that under the normal wild flowers were also a few plants used for medicine, especially the pretty ones wouldn't raise any eyebrows.  
The two shinobi were watching him for 10 minutes when the impulsive one had enough and jumped a good distance on the floor and slowly made his way to the little blue haired boy.  
"Hey you!" Shinobu looked up with big puppy eyes and tilted his head cutely, the perfect picture of innocence, "Yes,… shinobi-san?" "What are you doing here?" the brown haired chunin asked him, now that he could see him he recognized the triangles on the cheek, a member of the Inuzuka clan.  
He would have to be careful with his lies.  
So he chirped "Pressing flowers, want to take a look?" and with that he opened the book and showed him the glued in flowers. Thankfully he hadn't put in any descriptions yet.  
"Aren't you a boy? Shouldn't you be playing ninja or some other game instead of collecting flowers?" the rude Inuzuka asked incredulously. A pouting Shinobu looked up at him and said "And? They are pretty, I like flowers,… and that is a present." And waived the book at the shinobi.  
His partner, clearly an Aburame, used this moment to come up beside his partner and cuffed him over the head. "Don't be rude Kaze."  
Shinobu couldn't stop himself from giggling and greeted the other "Ohyao shinobi-san. My name is Kyuusai Shinobu".  
Fascinated by the bugs that flew from the Aburame's sleeve to the flower in his hand that hadn't been pressed yet. He tilted his head again and watched at the small black animals ate from the nectar.  
Slowly he opened his hand and plugged one of them of the flower to examine it closer.  
The Inuzuka threw a wary look to his partner, and said Aburame stiffened while he watched one of his little partners in the hand of an unknown child.  
Said child was aware of the suddenly tense atmosphere, but completely ignored it, carefully he moved the little insect in front of his face and examined it's body and wings, he opened the hand a little bit and felt how it fed from the chakra that lingered still on his hand from the powerful healing plant that he had pressed shortly before.  
He could remember that Sakura had an irrational fear of bugs, so she normally stayed as far away from the Aburame clan as possible without being rude, but strangely the little black thing didn't bother him the slightest.  
Shinobu had noticed that he had a different reaction to a lot of things than his Sakura, and to be honest he didn't mind the slightest.  
With big eyes he turned back to the Aburame ninja, "Do you also use other insects? Like bees or butterflies?" "No, only the kikaichu,…" "Huh, here" and with that he held his hand open so the little guy could fly back to his master.  
Shinobu had already decided that the Aburame clan and their relationship with their bugs was another topic that interested him, and so he would try to make himself as memorable as possible.  
When the kikaichu was back in Aburame Shibi's body it fed him some very interesting information.  
That the boy in front of him had a lot of contact with plants, that he spent most of his time either in the woods or somewhere close to nickel. Only the Hokage tower had a concentration this high. Very interesting. But the last information was the one that nearly let him loose his stoic poker face.  
The boy had a crippled chakra system. Poor boy he thought and shuddered inside, to have his chakra system crippled was the worst thing that could happen to a young boy in a shinobi village. It normally meant that the child's dream was destroyed.  
Shibi's concentration was back at the little boy when he asked "Your bugs can find flowers don't they? Could you help me find one?" Normally he wouldn't be so indulgent but the fate of this slip of a boy made him relent "What kind of flower are you looking for?" he ignored the surprise that was quickly hidden on his temporary partners face.  
Shinobu took the book from his little backpack and showed him the picture of a minor healing plant that had an enticing red color.  
He nodded and sent a few of his kikaichu out to look for the plant. A short time later one of the females informed him of a location not far from here.  
The little boy and his incredulous partner followed him as he made his way to the little clearing.  
He watched as the boy carefully pressed the plant, cleaned the nectar and the pollen away.  
After that the two shinobi escorted Shinobu back to the village and informed him that the woods on the eastern woods weren't a good place to play. Having solved the disturbance of the proximity wards in those particular woods they went back to their guard duty.

**Interlude: Shibi and Kaze**

"What was that? Normally you would never send out your bugs for something so inane as searching for a flower!" the flabbergasted Inuzuka said while he lazy lounged on the roof of the guard tower.  
His stiff partner looked over the other roofs into the streets of the east district.  
At first he didn't react to the brash Inuzuka and kept watching the civilians walking busy through the streets.  
Eventually he sighed and said monotone "He was crippled." "Huh, who? The boy? How was he crippled, he didn't limp, or had any other injury." The now curious ninja stood up and walked to Shibi's side. "His chakra system, my kikaichu picked it up, his system is completely crippled!" "Ah crap!" the eyes of the tattooed shinobi became big and he shuddered "That's horrible, god I don't know what I would do without access to my chakra, he must be one of those born with a birth defect." "No" Shibi shook his head, "That's not the reason why it's crippled, his system must have been overloaded with a lot of chakra, I reckon it was some kind of jutsu, which scorched his tenketsu points, the people you are talking about can't mold chakra, he can, my kikaichu sensed it swirling in his body, he just can't use it!"  
To the end Shibi became louder than he normally spoke, someone had hurt this young child and ruined his chance to become a shinobi forever, I was feeling rather violent at the moment.  
Kaze looked at first absolutely horrified and it turned into anger, the pup couldn't be older than four or five years old, the thought that somebody had hurt that cheeky little brat,… he growled frustrated, Inuzuka were known for how protective they were about their young. And he was reminded of his young niece, Hana wasn't even a year old.  
Both shinobi used the rest of the day to think about the most painful way of punishing the person that would hurt a Konoha child like that.


	8. Déjà vu

Onigiri: Japanese rice ball

Bento: Lunch box

Chunin: Ninja qualified to guide other ninja and lead missions, literally 'middle ninja'

**Chapter 7: Déjà vu**

**Foreboding**

Shinobu was sitting at his usual place at the Hokage monument when Kakashi came out of the building, sulking somewhat fierce.  
The bored 6 year old glanced up the moment Kakashi sat next to him and stole one of his dango sticks.  
"It's rude to take without asking!" the blue haired boy said blandly and stared at the other child genius. Said genius was still pouting until he finally broke "Minato-sensei is putting me on a team!" "Ah, you don't want to?" this time Shinobu was curious, the Kakashi in Sakuras time was a hardcore fan of teamwork, and liked to bend the rules almost daily; in this timeline he was a hardcore believer in the rules and an arrogant brat that was NEVER late.  
"No, I don't need them, they will just hold me back! Teamwork, what a useless concept!" Kakashi grumbled, now Shinobu was really surprised but just shrugged with his shoulders, Kakashi was still a child and would just need to grow up.  
With that he dismissed the nagging feeling that tried to remind him of something, he just went back to his book.

**Team**

Shinobu wasn't sure if he should laugh himself silly, or start to cry. Tiredly he rubbed his temples to prevent the headache he knew was coming.  
It was like a déjà vu, he had come to see how Minato and Kakashi were doing with the two new members and found Kakashi ignoring a very loud black haired boy with orange goggles, who just seemed to get more and more agitated with each second.  
The brown haired girl was trying to placate her new teammate while sending Kakashi shy glances and was blushing every time he caught her looking.  
Minato stood a little bit on the side with his head in his hand and was trying very hard not to laugh.  
Shrugging his shoulders, Shinobu wandered slowly to Minato's side and sat down beside him.  
He unpacked the lunch his mother had made for him and offered the blonde Hokage an onigiri. The two of them were eating the delicious bento, while Kakashi and his teammate were now arguing back and forth.  
'Should I interfere? Na this is too good' smiling and feeling a little bit vindictive Shinobu watched the show in front of him. Who would have known how short the fuse of the ever laid back Hatake Kakashi was.

**Uchiha Obito**

The boisterous chunin in front of him must have been the most unusual Uchiha that Shinobu/ Sakura ever met.  
Not that Sakura had known a lot Uchiha, only two to be exact, but the Uchiha clan had even in her time been renowned for their arrogance, and for being not so talkative.  
Uchiha Obito's mouth ran nonstop; and he had stupidest excuses ever for being late, come to think of, they reminded Shinobu a bit too much of Kakashi.  
The blue haired boy had the terrible suspicion that the cheerful Uchiha member wouldn't survive the next few years and that this event would define Kakashi's future character.

**Rin**

The medic nin on team Minato was a kind and caring thirteen year old girl that had a major crush on Kakashi. She reminded Shinobu of his other life, with the exception that the brown haired girl with war paint on her cheeks was a lot more subtle then his former self.  
Shinobu had seen her healing Obito after sparing with Kakashi, her chakra control was exceptional, not as good as Sakuras at that age but still impressive. He was sleeping better now that he knew that somebody competent was watching over Minato, Kakashi and that cheerful Uchiha.  
Shinobu wondered what had happened to her in the following years because even with so much time spent in the hospital and around medics in general, Sakura had never encountered her.

**Fangirls**

Shinobu was running, were they still behind him? Carefully he turned around and discovered those rabbit girls on the other end of the street.  
With a desperate jump he hid himself behind the bookstore on the back side of the Hokage tower square.  
Catching his breath he was thinking of Sakuras fangirl ways back in his other life and swore silently that he would make it up to poor, poor Sasuke.  
The blue haired pretty boy had made the mistake of coming across one of the Academy's field trips during one of his strolls through the village. He saved one of the girls from falling of a tree that she had climbed up.  
He never thought that he would ever regret saving somebody from a hard fall.  
Since that day the number of his fangirls was getting higher and higher, even though he was a civilian and in most cases younger than them!  
A cautious look around the corner told him that the coast was clear for the moment and so a harried Shinobu decided that he had enough excitement for today and made his way back home, to the safe haven that was his parents' house.  
While trying to decide which the side streets to take, he didn't notice the amused glances of Nara Shikaku and Aburame Shibi, who had observed his escape of the fangirls. The two had discussed an upcoming mission until caught sight of the blue haired boy. And now were smirking over his unfortunate fate.


	9. Decisions

**Baka-no-desu-21:**___Thanks I'm glad you like my story._

**Chapter 8: Decisions**

**Calling**

Shinobu was reading a book about samurai clans when he felt the fading chakra of another person slowly moving in his direction.  
The moment the person came into view he collapsed on the grass, blood flowing freely from his leg wound.  
Shinobu was instantly at the ninjas side, and Sakuras medic nin training kicked in, Shinobu cut away the trousers that blocked his sight of the wound.  
With quick hands he folded the light summer jacket he had with him and put pressure on the bleeding wound. To keep the pressure steady he used his knee to press down while opening the belt of the man and securing it just above the wound. Shinobu was thankful that studded belts were part of the standard shinobi wear, it made his task easier to cut off the blood supply to the wounded leg.  
After Shinobu was sure that he wouldn't bleed out, he checked for other wounds and then high tailed to the next guard tower, which was thankfully only a short distance away.  
As soon as he was within eyeshot he hollered for help.  
He was instantly surrounded by ninja, gasping for air Shinobu barley was able to wheeze out the worlds "Injured ninja" and point in the right direction before the medical ninja on duty was already running in the pointed direction.  
Completely exhausted the tiny seven year old was near passing out. A green haired kunoichi picked him up and brought him to the hospital for a quick check up. There he also gave his statement about what happened.  
In the hospital he was left alone for a short time, and thus giving him enough time to mull over the events that just occurred.  
This was the first time in this timeline that he helped somebody injured. It felt exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.  
Shinobu was now sure that he would start down the same path as Sakura had in her time. He would make it work even if he had to find a way around his handicap or had to learn the slower civilian way to treat injuries, he would help people again.  
The sixteen or seventeen year old chunin that recorded his account of the events was impressed with his knowledge of first aid and a little bit unnerved about the fact that a civilian child kept his cool in such a stressful situation.  
Shinobu just smiled innocently and to avoid suspicion he told the chunin about his goal to become a doctor.  
Satisfied with that explanation the shinobi escorted him home to his mother and explained what happened to her.  
During the short trip home Shinobu was lost in his thoughts about the path he would follow from now on. Somewhere in one of his books Shinobu had read an interesting sentence about being a doctor "Helping people is not an occupation, it's a calling!" grinning at himself he couldn't help but agree with the author.

**Parents**

His mother was watching him. Shinobu had noticed the worried gazes she sent him since he had been dropped off by the ninja nearly an hour ago.  
He couldn't help but smile inwardly, even if Souta and Keiko hadn't been his parents from the start, now they certainly were his parents; they loved him.  
Always so concerned, always trying to encourage him, they did their best to ensure a happy childhood for him and he couldn't help but love them for that.  
In the first weeks Shinobu had searched out Sakuras parents, he had found the young married couple living in a flat in the outskirts of Konoha, they were completely different people than Sakura could remember and so she decided with a heavy heart to let them go.  
When his father finally arrived home, Shinobu sat with the Kyuusai couple down and explained to them quietly that he wanted to become a doctor.  
Both of them were shocked at first, it didn't happen every day that your six year old child informs you about his future occupation, but they had learned in the last one and a half years that their son was head strong and very, very stubborn and so they would encourage the young boy.  
They promised him to talk to his teacher about adjusting his learning materials accordingly.

**Team Minato**

"Huh, so you want to become a doctor? Not a ninja or a medic nin like Rin-chan here? Because you could help more people this way." Obito asks after Shinobu told them about his decision.  
Said little boy looks down on his feet and said quietly so that the ninja have to really concentrate to understand him "I can't,…" "What do you mean you can't, do your parents forbid it or what? Because then you could go to the Hokage and,…" Kakashi replies but Shinobu just shakes his head annoyed "I can't because I'm not able to,… nearly a year ago a rouge nin hit me with a jutsu that crippled my chakra system while nearly killing me and sent me into a coma, I CAN'T access my chakra!". The last part of the sentence was said in a choked up voice.  
Wide eyes and pale faces looked at him, even Minato didn't know about this tidbit of information, and he knew Shinobu the longest.  
Frustrated the little boy turned around and started walking in the direction of the village, he couldn't let the others see his tears, it was one thing to hear and experience his disadvantage, but to tell others about his problem? It was just so frustrating for him, even with the knowledge that he could manipulate nature chakra, without the ability to use jutsus he was handicapped for the rest of his life.  
Shinobu didn't even reach the edge of the trainings field before he was enveloped in a hug from the blond team leader.  
"Please don't go away Shinobu, I…, we didn't know, I'm sorry we hurt you." The soft deep voice told him.  
God he was just like the more mature Naruto that Sakura came to adore in her timeline, they were so similar it was painful, even if it was nearly a year since she came into this time and took over as Shinobu, Minatos gestures and phrases reminded her so much of her foxy best friend.  
With a sob Shinobu finally gave in and started crying into the shirt of the Jounin.  
It was too much, the stress and the pressure that he had been under to find a way to prevent things had left him tired, frustrated and hopeless.  
Shinobu felt Kakashi, Obito and Rin standing around him and how agitated their chakras were, it was a relieve to at least feel their chakra pulsing around him.  
As the minutes passed Shinobus tears slowly started ebbing away. Obito was the first to speak "So you can't be a shinobi, that's okay, than you will just be the best doctor in the whole fire country so that even the shinobi come to you" and with that he grinned at the little boy he came to adore just as much as his annoying little brother.


	10. Growing

**Melyss**:_The real Shinobu was just a civilian kid that died when he was hit with the jutsu that changed his body – he would have been diagnosed as brain dead if Sakura's spirit hadn't taken over his body._

**sakuyaXXitachi**: _Why yes, he is a hoty ;), to your other question, the soul and the knowledge is still Sakuras but because of the changed body and also the travel through time her likes and interests have changed a little bit. I think the best way to describe this, is the way people change over the years; me for example, three years back I absolutely abhorred olives and now I can eat them, I don't particularly like them but they aren't bothering me that much anymore_ .

1300 hits and counting!

Kunai: weapon

Kunoichi: female ninja

Onsen: public bath, natural springs

Geta: Japanese wood sandals

**Chapter 9:** **Growing**

**Jiraiya**

The first time Shinobu caught sight of the white haired mess called hair and heard that perverted giggling, he couldn't help but feel gleeful, finally he could pay that pervert back for peeping on Sakura in the other time line.  
So the next time he saw the Sannin kneeling in front of the hot spring fence he walked straight up to the older man and asked what he was doing.  
"Research" the distracted shinobi told the little boy, "Hhm, you know that peeping on girls is bad" Shinobu chirped in an innocent voice and then he turned back to the fence and shouted as loud as he could "PERVERT".  
Enraged shouts could be heard from the other side, Jiraiya beside him was frozen for a second before he high tailed out of the danger zone as soon as the first kunais missed their target only by centimeters, he had peeped on some Konoha kunoichi.  
Pleased with himself, Shinobu made his way to team Minatos usual trainings ground, the team was finally back from another mission.  
His good mood and his slightly evil grin had the team instantly on guard, some of the members, chough Kakashi and Obito chough, had already firsthand experience how vindictive a miffed Shinobu could be, and didn't really wanted to know what put him in such a good mood.  
Obito finally found the courage to ask the little genius about his day. "Oh nothing happened really, I had dango with Anko-nee and then strolled through the streets, and oh yeah then I called attention to the white haired pervert that was peeping into the women's onsen, the kunoichis were not so pleased" the last part was said with a satisfied grin.  
Minatos eyes grew bigger "White haired pervert? Tall man, geta, head band with an oil sign?" when Shinobu nodded Minato groaned "Jiraiya-sensei".  
Head tilted in his typical thinking position Shinobu asked "Who is that Jiraiya?" "My genin sensei" the slightly embarrassed Namikaze told them.  
"WHAT?" the voices of Obito and Rin sounded through the training ground.

**Second meeting**

"Ah Minato, how are you doing, I heard a lot of interesting rumors about you on the front lines, kicking Iwa's ass aren't you? Ha ha ha?" with that sentence the Sannin greeted his former student "And who are those, your brats? I didn't know you took on a genin team." "We are NOT genins!" an enraged Obito shouted, even stuck up Kakashi's eye brow was twitching and Rin sweet, kind Rin was seriously contemplating the kunai pouch on her right thigh, what a rude man!  
"Hello Jiraiya, yes they are my team but they are all chunins." The blonde ninja was sighing, couldn't his sensei stop putting his foot into his mouth?  
"And who is this? Ah you are the brat that disrupted my research time, come here!" with that Jiraiya launched himself at the small 6 year old. He was stopped by Kakashi and Minato, who placed themselves between the two.  
"Oh, the pervert from yesterday" the little boy said blandly and then turned to Minato "I'm glad that your sensei didn't rub off on you Minato-ni" and while Jiraiya spluttered he sat down on his usual place under the biggest tree of the training field.  
While he took out his books and pens he discreetly watched the white haired Sannin that had trained his best friend and by the looks of it also his father, Jiraiya hadn't changed at all.

**Politics**

"Why did the Hokage pass this degree? What's the purpose behind it?" a frustrated Shinobu asked into the silence of the afternoon, while he was bend over a new degree that had been passed a week ago, it would restrict the trade to only the bare minimum necessities, those which were needed to keep the people fed, in Sakuras time such measures were never taken, and even when she was Tsunade's apprentice, they never had discussed politics in detail.  
A hhm-ing sound behind him let the little boy look up, Minato bent over Shinobus papers and notes. "You are interested in politics?" he shot the time traveler a skeptic glance. "Yes more or less, I just want to understand why some things are happening,…" the frustration could be heard out of his still very high voice.  
Minato contemplated the merits of teaching the little boy in front of him before he nodded and said "Very well, if you are really interested in politics I'm going to explain a few things to you. You will always need politics for one reason or another and especially if you decide to become a doctor, the more prominent civilian doctors are often asked for second opinions in matters that concern the whole village." Sitting down beside Shinobu he reached for the sheet with the degree on it. "So you were researching the degree that restricted the trading guilds. First you have to understand we are in a tight spot because of the war, in peace times this would have never even crossed the mind of the council,..." And with that Shinobu had without even trying to, found a tutor in all matters concerning politics, and who could teach him better than the next Hokage?

**Shiranui-sensei**

"…,he is six years old and has already the knowledge of an 13 to 14 year old, I estimate another two to three years for him to graduate on the civilian curriculum for trading,…" "That is nice, but wouldn't it be more sensible to put him into the academy? We could use another genius ninja like this,…" "I can't become a ninja" the annoyed voice of Shinobu interrupted the discussion of his teacher with the director of the hospital "During an attack last year my chakra system was affected, since then I can't access my chakra. Are you going to let me do an internship or not? Because you have been dancing around that topic for at least 15 minutes and I'm getting tired of this!". The director spluttered "Why you,…" A female voice chuckled softly behind him "Calm down Yakushi-san, he is right you know, if you don't mind I will take him under my wing, after all he will be a civilian doctor and not a medic nin." With that the middle aged woman turned to Shinobu "Hello Shinobu-kun, my name is Shiranui Seiko, you will call me Seiko-sensei. I don't tolerate laziness and I expect that you to work diligently." After she received a nod from the little boy she meant "Good, you will accompany me every Tuesday for six hours while I make my rounds." And that was how Shinobu apprenticeship under Shiranui-sensei began.

Hi I would like your opinion on who I should pair Shinobu up with, I've a poll on my profile site so please vote .


	11. Despair

**Melyss**: _Did I put it online as a SakuraxKakashi? – eh to be honest I don't think so, maybe accidental – hhm the change back to female is an interesting idea, but I don't see it for this story. But the final pairing is still a long time away – at least 7 chapters – so I will end the poll in 3-4 weeks .  
And after that who knows ;)_

**Chapter 10: Despair**

**Fragile**

Shinobu felt numb, he tried so hard not to become attached to Obito, but the boy reminded him so much of Naruto, he just couldn't help it. During the months spent with team Minato he unconsciously became close to the happy go lucky shinobi with the Sharingan Kekkei Genkai.  
And after he finally decided to try to prevent the incident that would change Kakashi into the ninja that Sakura remembered, it was already too late! Hadn't he travelled through time to make everything better? And now things were going downhill again.  
The peaceful village and the old and new faces had lulled him into a false sense of security, Shinobu had been happily living into the day while pushing the dreadful events that should change Konoha forever in a dark corner of his mind. And now, now he got a ruthless wake-up call from fate.  
Happiness, such a fragile thing, at one moment you think it won't be ever taken from you, and in the next second it shatters on the hard reality that is life.  
Kakashi had just made team leader the day before and this should have been a routine mission, destroy a bridge and come back home, the blue haired time traveler didn't even suspect this mission to be the one that would devastate team Minato like this, figures!  
Shinobu had expected that after the mission he and Team Minato would celebrate more thoroughly, and he was going to start imparting the importance of teamwork on Kakashi.  
Instead a toad summon waited at his family home to inform him to come to the hospital.  
Obito was dead, Kakashi in a coma and Rin had a bad case of chakra exhaustion and was completely devastated. She was responsible for replanting Obito's eye in Kakashi's empty eye socked.

**Funeral**

Today was Obito's funeral and Shinobu felt so helpless and also blamed himself for not interfering sooner, he came back to change everything, but how could he change things when he didn't know what the catalysts for most of the smaller events were? It had been 3 days since the disastrous day of team Minato's return and Kakashi had still not woken up.  
Shinobu was standing a little bit distanced from Minato and Rin, he didn't think he deserved to stand with the two, the first was wearing a blank mask and the second was crying bitterly.  
The little genius mulled over the event again and again and when he finally looked up again his gaze fell on Minato, Shinobu only really knew how things would turn out after Narutos birth and subsequently Minato's death.  
Oh god Minato's DEATH! He couldn't let this happen god no, no, no! Kind, indulging Minato that would buy him sweets to satisfy his cravings and would play board games with him and teach him about politics, NO! He WOULDN'T let this happen.  
Shinobu was a fucking genius and he had 14 month until the Kyuubi would be summoned directly to Konoha by Uchiha Madara. The kiddies gloves were off now, Shinobu would never let something like this happen again to his precious people! Not on his watch.  
Determined he made his way to the queue that had built itself to pay his respect to an amazing ninja and to silently ask for forgiveness.  
When it was his turn, Shinobu put down two flowers, one for him and one for Kakashi.  
After solving his inner tumult he finally started to pay attention to his surroundings, the Uchiha's were a cold and dignified lot, with the exception of Obito's closest family, who were silently crying.  
Obito's parents held onto Obitos little brother Shisui like a life line, the boy was around Shinobus age, but already wore a Konoha headband, a little prodigy maybe? Not able to stand that scene anymore Shinobu tore himself from the picture of sorrow and left the funeral behind him.

**Habits**

Obitos death affected Kakashi on a deeper level than everybody else, the first few weeks after he finally woke up from his coma, he didn't speak a word, he only nodded or shook his head and he was determined to learn the basics of the Sharingan and focused on nothing else.  
It had taken Minato and the Sandaime quite a bit political maneuvering and the permission of Obito's parents for Kakashi to be able to keep Obito's eye.  
Kakashi's stubborn silence hurt Rin the most out of their group, Shinobu had kind of expected it from him and was thus a little better prepared for the rejection of his friend, it hurt never the less.  
Then suddenly his behavior started to better itself, Shinobu suspected Minato and a serious talk behind this and so while team Minato was slowly gaining their stoic Kakashi back they also felt the lack of Obito more and more keenly with every meeting that went by.  
Until the day Kakashi was late for the first time, when Minato asked him why the normally so punctual boy was late Kakashi gave one of Obito's stupid answers, Shinobu couldn't quite remember it, something about the road of life, he had automatically stopped paying attention when Kakashis hand went to the back of his head, after all old habits die hard, even if they were from another timeline.  
The reactions to Kakashi were varied but at least not negative, Minato was just surprised, Shinobu had to roll his eyes and Rin,… it forced a smile out of her.  
Shinobu couldn't help but laugh wryly while lying in the thick grass of his parents garden and thinking back to the incident of this morning.  
Taking on the trade mark of the deceased, what a way to remember somebody. Humans really did take up habits of the people they were close to, it didn't matter if unconsciously or deliberately.  
Okay so maybe Team Minato wasn't fine, far from it, but they had started the healing process, this at least had to count for something.

**Repercussions**

The destruction of the Kannabi bridge had long lasting consequences, the supply chain of the Iwa nin was now interrupted and they had not only problems with supplying their ninjas with basic essentials but also the much needed combat material. They were now losing more and more battles, retreating further and further.  
It wasn't official yet because ninja wars were unpredictable but a cautious optimistic mood was slowly spreading through the ranks of the Konoha ninja.  
The end of the war was in reachable distance.

_10.000 words and counting :D_


	12. Time flies

**Kaelin The Black Swan **_Thanks , hhm to the topic turning Sakura back in a girl, to be honest I can't seem to get rid of the idea, the more I think about it the more it appeals to me,… I have to think about it, but as I said before not in this story. Sakura with Sakura… I had the strangest dream after reading your review, do you enjoy giving me nightmares? Wait don't answer this._

**ellessia**_ hhhm, kakashixsakura/shinobu and also Shinobu abilities,… I'm not going to confirm or deny it, you'll just have to wait and see ;)_

By the way 2.000 hits and counting THANK YOU!

**Chapter 11: Time flies**

**The hospital**

The Konoha hospital had changed quite a bit in the fifteen years between the time lines, and so Shinobu found himself quite lost in the long intensive care, that would be the laboratory in the near future. Really he didn't know what he should think about this dramatic change of structure, what had been the trigger for this?  
While walking through the halls back to the reception to ask his way to the laboratories, Shinobu contemplated his new sensei.  
Shiranui Seiko was a woman with brown hair just like her nephew Genma. And that's where the similarities ended. She was a stern, straight to the point and no-nonsense woman, she kind of reminded him of Tsunade, just without the booze, the temper tantrums and the random escapes to gamble.  
She had tested Shinobus power of comprehension in the first week of his apprenticeship and had adjusted her information flow accordingly, Shinobu hadn't felt this challenged since Sakuras apprenticeship under Tsunade.  
The civilian way to healing was so completely different because you had a whole load of other variables to account for.  
To put it plainly Shinobu flourished under the guidance of the head of the civilian doctors.

**Endings and new beginnings**

The third great shinobi war ended quietly, the nations just didn't have the resources to continue it.  
And so peace treaties were signed, alliances were made and the losers of this war were licking their wounds.  
Konoha was more or less unscathed; there hadn't been any battles directly in the hidden village, just at the border of fire country and a little bit land inwards.  
The end of the war brought a lot of changes concerning Shinobus friends and family.  
His parents delicacies store that had been turned into a general food store because of the war, was booming again, fire countries economy as whole was picking up, thanks to the sly diplomats that had hammered out deals and treaties for the good of the Konoha.  
A less pleasant change came for team Minato, as a war hero Minato was suddenly swamped with more or less supple requests of alliances, marriage proposals and his sudden status as a minor noble with a seat on the council. The nobility had been a reward for his war efforts.  
Because of his lack of time and the already incomplete status of his team, it was disbanded against the Namikazes will. Kakashi was drafted for solo missions, and Rin was called back to hospital duty.  
And so the era of team Minato came to an end, after only two short years.  
Shinobu wasn't sure how to handle this, and so he tried Sakuras way of handling difficult situations, he threw himself into his medical training and then after not seeing Kakashi for a while and being fed up with his antisocial habits, he seized the young jounins apartment and annoyed him so long until he agreed to a weekly meeting between the old members of team Minato.  
Both Minato and Rin readily agreed to Shinobus bullying and so you could find the four every week either at the dango, the shushi place or at Ichirakus, discussing their week, training and generally enjoying the company of the others, even if some wouldn't admit to it even under torture, cough Kakashi cough.

**Habanero**

The first time Shinobu met Uzumaki Kushina, he caught her and Minato snogging in the hallway of Minato's apartment building. Shinobu and the future Hokage had a politics lesson scheduled for that afternoon.  
So when Shinobu cleared his throat both were thoroughly embarrassed of being caught by the nearly eight year old civilian boy, in the hallway no less.  
When Kushina introduced herself, Shinobu had to concentrate not to burst into laughter, god but she was the exact copy of her son, down to the "Uzumaki Kushina, nice to meet you, dattebane!"  
Shinobu took a shine to the red haired woman and so Minato's girlfriend stayed through his politics lesson and would interrupt him whenever she didn't agree with Minato. After all as heiress to the Uzumaki clan, the political and economical training were deeply ingrained in her, even if the rest of the time she was, brash, loud and often quite dense.  
This verbal spare between Naruto's future parents ensured an interesting afternoon for the young blue haired boy.

**Hokage**

Kyuusai Shinobu was present to observe a very interesting event that wasn't written down in any history book about the investiture of the fourth Hokage of Konoha.  
He had accompanied Minato to the Hokage tower when the blonde man had been summoned, because he hadn't had anything to do at that time and saw this as an opportunity to be introduced to the Sandaime Hokage.  
After the introduction between the Sandaime and Shinobu, he had asked if he should leave the room but was encouraged to stay, Shinobu had his suspicions about the coming happenings as soon as he saw the twinkle in the aged eyes of the head of the Sarutobi clan.  
But back to the event that hadn't been written down in the history books.  
Namikaze Minato, yellow flash of Konoha, Iwa's worst nightmare fainted the first time Sarutobi told him he was going to be Hokage. How very interesting indeed. The blonde shinobi wasn't going to live this down for a very long time, at least not if Kushina and Shinobu had anything to say about it.  
Konoha welcomed their new Hokage with open arms, there were celebrations on every corner of the village. Sarutobi had made a good decision in announcing the blonde shinobi as his successor.

**Decisions**

He couldn't do this alone! Shinobu finally given up on the idea of saving Konoha on his lonesome.  
A little eight year old boy couldn't do anything, much less a civilian child with no connections what so ever. Time had flown since Obito's funeral and it now was March, seven months before the Kyuubi attack.  
Shinobu was contemplating who he should let in on his secret. Who wouldn't immediately send him to a counselor or to the interrogation squad? Sighing the young boy made his way to the Hokage tower, he had a blonde soon to be father to convince.

**Minato**

The blonde Hokage looked completely flabbergasted at Shinobu while his mind was reeling. He played the conversation that they had back through his mind. Shinobu had com e to him with the request to talk to him without his ANBU and had then proceeded to tell him the most outrageous and unbelievable story he had ever heard.  
Time travel, body switch, Kyuubi? He so felt a headache approaching, was his little student mentally unstable? How should he convince a fucking genius to subject himself to a psychological test? He was contemplating a few approaches until one information morsel suddenly popped up again, that name Naruto,… he was sure that he never told Shinobu about his sensei's book and his decision to call his first born after it. How did he know?  
"Okay, let's say I believe you, can you give me something that would confirm your story?" Minato asked the blue haired boy in front of him, the so-called civilian rolled his eyes and said "Well just ask Kushina if she's pregnant or not, she should be 2 months along now! Oh yeah and I would be careful around Danzo, he has been giving information to Orochimaru in exchange for medical knowledge about transplanting Kekkei Genkai's."  
With that the time traveler turned around and let the gaping Hokage to his own devices, he couldn't do much more, now it was Minato's move.  
The next day Shinobu was sought out by a stupidly greening Hokage, who would zoon out every other Minato with a dazed smile. "So I take Kushina is pregnant?" Shinobu asked with one eyebrow raised "Yeah, she is" slowly coming back to earth Minato turned to his little student and led him to his apartment. There he activated the privacy seals and sat down heavily on the couch. "Okay I believe you, even if some part of me still wants to send you to a counselor, I want you start with what you know about the next few months!"


	13. Finding a way

**Melyss: **_I know what you mean, he is the kind of character that you like to see a little bit miserable and flustered don't you think?_

**Kai Maciel:**_ Never fear, as I said I think the idea is intriguing but not for this story, I'm glad you like it, it makes me giddy to read all those positive reviews :D to Naruto/ Shinobu … let's just say I have some fluff planned ;)_

**MariDark:**_ Ohhh Thank you!_

Jinchuriki: living sacrifice, container of a tailed beast  
Kage Bunshin: shadow clone  
Yondaime Hokage: the fourth Hokage from Konoha  
Sage: senjutsu user, somebody who can use and utilize natural energy  
ANBU: special Assassination and Tactical Squad, they take orders only directly from the Hokage  
Teriyaki: Japanese cooking technique,  
Ichiraku: ramen restaurant in Konoha, Narutos favourite restaurant

**Chapter 12: Finding a way**

**Seals**

Suffice to say Minato went pale at the thought of scarifying himself to seal the Kyuubi. Shinobu also told him about how the villagers treated Naruto in Sakuras time and that his sacrifice really wasn't an option.  
Especially not with Madara still alive, Orochimaru plotting an invasion and the destruction of Konoha and Danzo working on overthrowing the Hokage and taking up the hat himself.  
On the topic of Kushina, the second jinchuriki, he could just helplessly shrug, she didn't survive, but how it had played out was a secret the Sandaime and the other attendants took to their graves.  
They decided that the most pressing situations at the moment were the Kyuubi one and the work on the seals to bind him, either to little Naruto or something else, as well as Kushina's survival.  
Both agreed that with Madara out there, to leave a destructive force like the Kyuubi unsecured, was more than foolish and was just asking for another attack.

**Solution**

They worked nearly two months on the problem, Minato with the advanced and rare seals, while Shinobu was given a crash course in seal usage and what was important for them to work.  
Thanks to his ever improving mind he had no trouble with both information flows, the one he got in the morning from Shiranui-sensei and the one that was imparted on him in the afternoon in form from books and small pointers from Minato.  
Said Hokage had discovered the use of Kage Bunshin, with a small nudge from Shinobu in the right direction, he was now able to keep up with his paper work and that left him more time for research.  
They finally found the solution on a Friday evening after another grueling week of working themselves through Konoha's and Minato's seal libraries.  
"This one would be perfect, if there weren't this ridiculous amount of chakra that we would need for it, god damnit!" frustrated Minato pulled on his hair.  
"That's the problem in general, the chakra mass that is needed to seal the nine tails is unbelievable high."Shinobu sighed and turned to look at the Yondaime. "Tze, we just need a chakra powerhouse or 50 to seal that stupid fur ball! Easy to find and even easier to convince to go near the Kyuubi!", replied the blonde sarcastically "Hhhm, wait you can use chakra from different sources?" Shinobus eyebrows were furrowed he didn't know that. "Hhm, yes of course, oh didn't I give you the book on the bigger sealing works? It doesn't matter from where the chakra comes, the seals just convert the power and not the intent like jutsus normally do."  
Wide eyed Shinobu looked at Minato unbelievingly until he said slowly "I… I think I know how to solve our problem" the blonde Hokage was suddenly alert again and looking intent on the time traveler in the small body before him and asked urgently "How?" "I can manipulate natures chakra, ever since this body had the run in with the rouge nin. Maybe I could direct the chakra lines under Konoha into the seal?"  
"You, you can manipulate natures chakra, you are a sage? That's, god Shinobu, that's awesome normally only shinobi with years of experience turn into sages and even those have problems with bigger amounts. Hhm about your idea, we would have to try this before we get over excited about it. Meet me tomorrow on training ground eleven, we are going to test your theory there. Okay, now come on, I'm bringing you home to your parents, after all it's already ten p.m., I shouldn't have kept you this long, you must be tired?"  
Sighing deeply Shinobu agreed, even if after telling Minato about his adult mind he was still treated like a kid that needed naps and a bed time. Grumbling the time traveler packed his things together and followed the Yondaime out of his apartment, Shinobu ignored the tiny voice that gave Minato right that this body really needed it's sleep.

**Trial and error**

The following day Shinobu and Minato tested their theory on different sealing circles.  
It was a day of trial and error, the first two circles didn't work because the chakra flow was too big, the next one nearly exploded because the chakra flow was too fast, and so on and so on. The finally conceded defeat at lunch time and made their way back into the village to get some food.  
The ANBU following the two weren't sure what to make out of the duo antics, but they had learned not to jump to conclusions concerning the Yondaime or his shadow the little blue haired boy who occupied most of their Hokages' time.  
ANBU, the ninja working in the Hokage tower as well as the civilian council members and advisors had gotten used to the sight of Minato being shadowed by the small blue haired civilian boy and while they heavily disapproved at first, especially after they had heard the two debating about the last suggestion the council had made and the Hokage LISTENING to what that little boy had to say. They had finally giving up on trying to pry the little boy from Minato's side when they noticed that he wasn't disrupting the on goings in the tower and their suggestions to send the boy away fell on deaf ears.  
Shinobu and Minato decided to go to the Teriyaki place that had opened only three weeks prior, but were disappointed when they found out that the restaurant was closed.  
They heard the vendor of the food store next door gossip about the bad luck that the restaurant owner had, after all who would have anticipated that the valve of his water tank would break and now the cellar was completely flooded.  
Minato and Shinobu were staring at each other with big eyes, both thinking the same 'A valve, a chakra valve to regulate the flow!'  
They hurriedly got take out from Ichirakus and than barricaded themselves back in Minato's apartment.  
The chakra valve was the final puzzle piece that they had needed for their plan, from then on every sealing circle they tried worked, Shinobu realized the more often he did the manipulating the easier it got.  
Of course this was just the beginning of their final sealing circle and to channel as much chakra as needed for the Kyuubi, they would have to use a whole battalion of valves, but that didn't stop the duo from running around with big smiles on their faces for nearly a week, creeping out a lot of ninja and civilian council members.  
Four months before the Kyuubi attack, things were finally looking up.

**Attention**

Shinobu sighed, for all his genius he hadn't seen that coming. Okay maybe they should have expected it but really, he never would have pegged Kakashi as the overly jealous and possessive type. The silver haired fourteen year old Jounin was being chased at the moment through trainings field seven by the, at the moment, slightly ticked blonde Hokage.  
Yes it was true they had been very secretive during the last months and yes maybe they shouldn't have clammed up the moment either Kushina, Kakashi or Rin had asked about their project but did that really require such extreme measures? Apparently yes, Shinobu sighed again, okay maybe they should have really paid more attention to the others and especially Kakashi, but did he really have to drench them in cold water to get their attention? Secretly Shinobu was pleased with Kakashi's reaction, because it meant that they were important to him and that he wouldn't drown in self inflicted solitude, like the Kakashi in Sakura's time line had done, but still, cold water?.  
After an intensive training session for Kakashi, they had sat down with him and Kushina and Rin and had explained their behavior with the excuse of developing a new way to use big sealing circles that would maybe revolutionize the way of sealing and that they also were working on a way to let Shinobu use chakra.  
Both Minato and Shinobu felt guilty for telling this white lie to their friends and in Minatos case lover, but they didn't see another way. The future of Konoha and with that the future well being of their friends and family was too important to compromise. Especially if telling them could potentially start a chain reaction that they wouldn't be able to control or direct.  
To make amends to their friends and family both Minato and Shinobu decided to spend as much time as possible with them. And so Konoha was more and more often treated to the sight off the long impassioned medical debates between Rin and Shinobu at Rin's favourite shushi place or loud and forceful arguments and dry or sarcastic comments between the two resident geniuses discussing everything from sealing techniques over the use of plants to the best usage of chopsticks.  
The sight of the ever so stiff and formal Hatake heir being coaxed so completely out of his shell was a rather puzzling, fascinating and utterly terrifying event for the resident ninja of Konoha, especially the first few times of the occurrence had nearly led to mass panic, was the world finally going to hell in a hand basket?  
With time the ninja corpses and civilians did that what they were best at, they adapted and soon those events weren't even a second glance worth anymore.


	14. Preparations

**Animecrzylove: **_Thank you, as I told the other reviewers wait and see ;)_

**More than 3.300 hits **

Hirashin

**Chapter 13: Preparations**

**Jiraiya and Kushina**

After finally finding a solution to their possible fox problem, Minato and Shinobu decided it was time to call Jiraiya back and inform Kushina about Shinobus knowledge, they were needed for additional help with the seals as well as a backup plan, should anything go awry.  
It was a lot easier to convince the toad sage about the time traveling than Minato, the simple sentence "You and Orochimaru, 23 of July, bath tub,… do you want me to continue?" was enough. Originally only the three Sannin had known about that particular incident. Shinobu knew about it because after Jiraiya's death Tsunade had gotten shit faced drunk and had told Sakura stories about the time the Sannins were still a team and their mishaps. Meaning that Shinobu had now several decades worth of black mail material on both Tsunade and Jiraiya.  
Kushina funnily enough didn't need any form of convincing, she looked Shinobu long and hard in the eyes and said "Hhm, oh well than tell us about the future!"  
After giving Jiraiya and Kushina the run down, they took a look at the progress of the seals.  
Kushina was a little bit hurt about the fact that Minato lied to her when she asked a few weeks prior, but as ninja she understood the need for secrecy, especially about such a delicate topic.  
Minato was a very talented seals master, the Hirashin proved that, but the two other seal masters were on a completely different level. Jiraiya had nearly three times as much experience and Kushina was practically born to do seals, it was her family's specialty after all. With the help of those two they had finished the final sealing circle two weeks after Jiraiya had arrived.  
When deciding on who to use as the sacrifice it had been nearly impossible to convince Kushina to seal the Kyuubi in Naruto, even with the logic that only Naruto would be strong enough, physically and mentally to withstand the Kyuubi she hadn't wanted to budge from her point of few at first, it took a week of silent treatment for all of them and Minato sleeping on the couch until she finally relented and agreed to their plan.  
In this timeline they decided to seal not only the Yang but also the Yin chakra, which meant that they had to incorporate a whole lot more security and failsafe seals.  
As sealing location they had chosen the fire shrine, it was far away enough to keep Konoha safe should the Kyuubi escape as long as he wasn't directly summoned on Konoha premises. There they could also reseal the Kyuubi with as little collateral damage as possible.  
Jiraiya and Minato had with Shinobus help put security seals around the perimeter of the shrine as well as inside.  
Minato also painted Hirashin seals on Kushina, Shinobu and Jiraiya to be able to come to their help at a moments notice and teleport them away if necessary.  
Concerning Madara they couldn't really lay down a battle plan because Sakura had never been told what really happened that night, and so Minato and Jiraiya took the opportunity to beat up the ANBU forces under the disguise as training to release the frustrating feeling of being helpless.

**Waiting**

From now on it was a wait and see game that was driving the four conspirators up the wall.  
The only reprieves for them were distractions like Minatos' and Kushinas' wedding that took place in secret with only a few people in attendance and their subsequent move into the new Namikaze clan compound. As well as Shinobus urge to drive Kakashi up the wall, the time traveler couldn't help himself, he was utterly fascinated with the various reactions of the normally so composed ninja, Sakura's Kakashi had been a dead fish in comparison, Minato found Shinobus fascination downright hilarious and always had this knowing twinkle in his eyes that was driving the blue haired little boy absolutely insane.  
But back to the Namikaze clan compound, the new compound was close to the Nara woods and was hidden behind a wood enclave on the southern edge of the village, a rather beautiful place to be honest, very peaceful, at least most of the time.  
Hhhm, Shinobu was contemplating how to best describe what Minato and Jiraiya had done to the slap of land. Well to put it plainly the seal masters had gone seal nuts on the property. The main house had been built with help of the ANBU corpses, so that the civilian construction workers that normally would have taken over this work couldn't betray the layout of the Hokage's home.  
In every wall and floor were seals and backup seals implanted, you also could find the beloved Hirashin seals of Minato on nearly every surface. The woods behind the garden were bobby trapped and would activate as soon as Minato raised the security around his home.  
So yeah, seal nuts was probably the best way to describe what Jiraiya and Minato had done.  
To put the cherry on top, after they had finished their work, a heavily pregnant Kushina had implanted Uzumaki clan seals as well into their new home. Shinobu was not kidding when he told them that their house was even more secure than the ANBU holding cells and village defenses combined.

**Minato interlude**

Kyuusai Shinobu was a little brat, time traveler with years of foreknowledge or not, a preteen brat to be exact. The blonde Hokage snorted while he watched the systematically way the blue haired eight year old drove the fourteen year old genius Jounin absolutely nuts.  
Minato didn't think that Shinobu was consciously aware of the fact that he was flirting with the sliver haired older boy, or at least flirting as much as a preteen could, it was rather similar to pulling on the pigtails of the girl in front of you to gain her attention. Really it was rather amusing. Had Shinobu been a normal eight year old, Minato would have been concerned and would have already alerted Kakashi of the situation as to not cross any boundaries, but well as Shinobu wasn't a normal eight year old, Minato wasn't overly concerned.  
Shinobu as a whole was rather fascinating to be honest, Minato had since he knew about the time travelling kept a careful eye on the blue haired civilian boy. Most of the time when Shinobu was alone with him he acted very mature just like the twenty something experienced veteran ninja that he said he was, gender aside. But then Minato witnessed more and more events like this were the little genius acted more like his bodies age than the experienced mind that inhabited the body.  
Because of this the blonde Hokage had decided early in their partnership after seeing how the little boy had fallen asleep following a particular exhausting discussion, that even though he would see the little enigma that had been sleeping on his couch, as his equal during their strategy and brainstorming sessions, the rest of the time he would treat him like the child that he now was. Minato wanted to let him enjoy his childhood and live this second chance to the fullest.

**Uzumaki clan**

Shinobu spent the rest of the three months mostly in the company of Kushina.  
While Minato was now dealing with the civilian requests, which had started to pile up and was working on slowly diminish the power of the elders, Shinobu was taking under Kushina's wing and was now learning seals the proper Uzumaki way.  
With Jiraiya back at travelling she was the only one with enough time to spent it with Shinobu and so she had decided to implant her sealing knowledge on the little boy.  
Shinobu became the first not clan member to learn about Uzumaki sealing secrets and their approach on solving problems. There was more to seals than the blue haired boy had first thought. It was just like a language with grammar and exceptions that was still developing even further. To put it simply it was beautiful, thanks to his improved comprehension he learned in two months, what would take others years to do.  
Shinobu didn't only learn about the sealing techniques, he also learned about the Uzumaki history and what it meant to be an Uzumaki, how their family came to be and how the burden of the Kyuubi had been theirs to carry for over fifty years since it was sealed in Uzumaki Mito.  
In the middle of September Kushina became more and more nervous, Shinobu tried to calm her and only after he promised her that he would take care of Naruto and teach him everything he knew, she found some peace of mind. The promise that he gave her was one of the most heart breaking things that Shinobu and Sakura had ever done, it was as if Kushina knew that she wouldn't survive to see her son grow up.


	15. Kyuubi and Madara

**MariDark:** _Kushina… well you will have to read yourself_

**KafeiDetour:** _thanks I'm trying to keep it interesting_

**Animecrzylove**: _I'm trying to update biweekly on Sunday and Wednesday respectively, but we will see how much time/ inspiration I have in July, I have a summer job beginning next Monday and I've got two exams left, one on Thursday and one on Friday so chances are that I won't be updating on Sunday. Hhm telling you about which changes I have planned would be spoilsport wouldn't it? So wait and be surprised ;). Yes I know my chapters are short *sigh*- I'm trying… but the small voice in my had won't give me more fill in information :D._

**Xelexya**: _Wow,… that's hhhm, I'm blushing and squealing at the moment, thank you for the complement, you just made my day :D._

Tatami mat: straw mat

Hirashin: flying Thunder God jutsu, teleporting jutsu

**3.800 hits – I love you guys :D**

**Chapter 14: Kyuubi and Madara**

**10****th**** October**

It seemed that it didn't matter how well prepared you are, some things just had to happen. Again the 10th October would go down in history as the day the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. Again Konoha had heavy losses, and again Shinobu had lost precious people.  
In the morning of the 10th October, as soon as Kushina's contractions began, they had sequestered her away from the village to the fire shrine were an ANBU squad of seven as well as Jiraiya waited.  
Minato had taken hold of her seal and then they had waited for hours for little Naruto to come out.  
Shinobu wasn't sure how Madara had accomplished it but he had found them even under the heavy secrecy seals and genjutsus that had surrounded them as additional security and as soon as Naruto umbilical cord was removed he had taken the infant hostage against Minato and Kushina.  
The ANBU's and Jiraiya were paralyzed with some kind of odd sound jutsu and only Shinobu, Minato and Kushina could move, Madara didn't seem to perceive Shinobu as a threat.  
Madara forced Minato to let go of the weakened Kyuubi seal when he threw Naruto in the opposite corner of the room, the second it took the fourth Hokage to catch his son was enough for Madara to set the Kyuubi free.  
Minato used the former Uchiha heads distraction with the nine tails to activate the Hirashin seals on Shinobu, Kushina, and himself. They landed in the main room of the shrine were the sealing circle was hidden under tatami mats, because the risk of Madara discovering a genjutsu was too high.  
In the mean time the retired Sandaime Hokage, feeling the menacing chakra of the nine tails had rallied the Shinobi forces to defend the village against the Kyuubi.

**Konoha**

The evacuation of the civilians and the academy children started the moment the oppressing feeling of the Kyuubi was felt by the shinobi forces, thanks to the new procedures and responding routines the evacuation time was cut in half. Still it wasn't fast enough, not one of the residents of Konoha be it shinobi or civilian was prepared for that out lashing creature that landed in the middle of the town. With one swipe half of the shopping and a quarter of the residential district were destructed.  
ANBU cells and Konohas Jounin force were sent against the fox while the rest of the chunin and genin carried the civilians and injured away as fast as they could.  
Hiruzen Sarutobi himself as well as every veteran ninja from Konoha that had the ability to move scrambled to reach the Kyuubi before it annihilated the village.

**Madara**

As soon as Minato had delivered Kushina, Shinobu and Naruto to the main shrine room, he located with his sensor jutsu where Madara had taken Kyuubi and with a silent curse and a worried look to the other two occupants he teleported to the Hokage monument were he watched with grim eyes the destruction that was done to a large part of his beloved village.  
The nin with the orange mask, Madara, that he recognized from Shinobus accounts, stood on the head of the first Hokage and was directing the unbelievable powerful force of nature below him. With cold and calculated fury Minato engaged the former Uchiha patriarch in a fight that would determine if Konoha had a future or would be destroyed under the force of the nine-tails.  
Thanks to the warnings of his blue haired little student Minato was prepared for the time space jutsu that Madara was capable of and could land a distracting blow as well as two of his seals on the missing nin, a contract seal and a seal that he and Kushina had developed during the last months.  
The first disrupted the control of the Kyuubi and the second instantly seeped into the skin of Madara, connected itself to his chakra network and paralyzed him for short amount of time.  
While Madara was occupied Minato reached the Kyuubi and summoned Gamabunta right on top of the nine-tails. With a modified Hirashin he teleported Gamabunta, the fox and himself directly to the fire shrine where Shinobu and Kushina were waiting.

**Sealing**

While Minato was occupied in Konoha, Shinobu and Kushina hurriedly put the finishing sealing jutsus on Naruto and activated the outside ring of the circle, the chakra valves had to warm up for at least 20 seconds to conduct as much chakra as was necessary for the sealing.  
As the ring around them came to live, Jiraiya and the ANBU team had finally shrugged of the effects of the paralyzing jutsu and positioned themselves around the sealing circle.  
Shinobu sat down on the, for him designated place and opened his senses to feel the nature chakra around him and draw from it at a moment's notice.  
It was eerie silent and dare Shinobu think it, peaceful for a few moments before hell literally broke loose right on top of them.  
A shriek that nearly blew his ears forced Shinobus eyes involuntary up to the ceiling, just right on time to see it blown away thanks to one of the Kyuubi tails. Around him the building was creaking and groaning and only the protection and reinforcement seals were holding it together and even those were mostly obliterated.  
The Kyuubi chakra was the most terrifying feeling that Shinobu had ever felt, nothing not the texts, not the accounts and especially not Sakuras memories had prepared Shinobu for the absolute oppressing force that was emitted by this creature and it wasn't even directed at him personally.  
Shinobu wasn't sure if he should cry, laugh or just die from the sheer panic that was clawing at his heart.  
He was ripped from his thoughts when Kushina hit him with the dull side of a kunai on his leg. Because of the delicate balance of the sealing circle they couldn't move over the seal structure after it was activated without disrupting it, so she had used another way to force the paralyzed Shinobu back to reality. With grim determination and a silent wish to whatever deity was watching Shinobu began to draw the chakra around him into the circle.  
Sweat was pouring from him while he slowly powered up the seals around him, thanks to the chakra sensing that was necessary to feel the nature chakra he felt every jutsu and every chakra signature around him that was fighting to subdue the demon fox. Shinobu had never felt such so much S-class ninjas at work and it was as awe inspiring as it was terrifying.  
Mentally the blue haired pre teen was counting the sealing reservoirs that he already had filled and which he still had to fill. There were 12 in total, one for each tail and three for the body and the building of the prison inside of Naruto, Shinobu had already filled the nine for the tails and slowly he was running out of chakra to draw from, he had to reach farer and farer and that was costing him not only in concentration but also his own chakra, after all it was empowering his senses.  
Before he could finish with the 10th reservoir a tremor went through the earth and destroyed his concentration on the chakra stream inside the Hokage mountain. Kyuubi had fired a lava ball at the ANBU squad that had attacked his right side and succeeded in frying three of them, as an answer to the death of their comrades the remaining four attacked even more viciously then before.  
The lava that had set the woods behind the temple in flames shined like a beacon in the nearly completely chakra drained surroundings.  
Desperately in need of more chakra for the circle Shinobu reached through the drained chakra streams and connected to the lava that fed of the woods and was rapidly winning on heat and intensity.  
To Shinobus relieve he could connect to the chakra source and drained it completely, thus he had finally reached the necessary amount to seal the Kyuubi.  
This sudden extinguish of the burning lava had the unfortunate effect of drawing the Kyuubis attention to the glowing set of seals. Completely ignoring the other ninja around it, Kyuubi was suddenly directly above them and a malicious eye was staring at Shinobu, Kushina and little Naruto in the middle of the glowing circle.  
"Kushina-sensei now!" the hoarse voice of Shinobu suddenly interrupted the eye contact between Kyuubi and Kushina. Using her chakra chains Kushina anchored the Kyuubi to the ground. With an enraged howl the Kyuubi went down before he could squish them with his paw.  
Kushina was assisted by the remaining ANBU and Jiraiya while Minato landed by the activation field. Nearly completely exhausted the fourth Hokage sent his last chakra into the sealing construct and connected the individual chakra reservoirs with the written down specifics of the Kyuubi prison. With a mental command twelve ropes shot out of the outer ring of the circle, wound themselves around Kyuubi and dragged it into the seal.  
In a last attempt to escape the sealing Kyuubi lashed out with on claw and tried to reach the infant Naruto that was lying in the middle and was screaming his head off.  
Unable to move both Shinobu and Minato had to watch horrified as the claw came closer and closer to the newborn baby.  
Kyuubis claw pierced through a body and came to a stop only a meter away from Naruto.  
"No, Kushina, no,…" the desperate voice of Minato was resounding through the clearing while Kyuubi was sucked into the seal and then into Narutos stomach.  
Jiraiya and the surviving ANBU landed beside Minato and Kushina respectively, Jiraiya helping his student to his dying wife, while the ANBU tried to stabilize his Hokage's wife as best as he could but everybody knew his efforts were in vain, a big part of Kushinas lungs and stomach were destroyed.  
"Naruto,… Minato is Naruto okay?" the dying kunoichi asked in a desperate tone. Minato had to hold back his tears his beautiful, beautiful wife was leaving him "Yes, yes he is fine, he is going to be fine honey, … I please, please don't go,…" Minatos voice broke at the end, he should be used to the death of people and he knew that pleading never helped to prevent death but he couldn't help himself, this was his wife, the mother of his child, his partner in crime, the one that had made him the happiest man in Konoha for a few short years.  
Behind the couple ANBU Hawk helped a numb Shinobu to his feet. The blue haired time traveler couldn't believe it, again he had lost somebody dear to him '…, Kushina-sensei,…', distracting himself from the tears that were welling up and the heart wrenching pain, he picked a whimpering Naruto from the ground and wrapped him in the blanket that had served as surface for the tiny infant.  
He kneeled down on the other side of Kushina and handed the baby to a silent crying Minato that brought him close to Kushinas face, said kunoichi didn't even have the strength left to reach out to her son. Her voice was rasped while she struggled to make herself coherent. "… take care… I love you Minato,… Shin-chan,… don't forget,…,… you'll be strong I know it,… Naruto-chan…"

Uzumaki Kushina died with the name of her son on her lips on the 10th of October, at half past six pm, after birthing Naruto and assisting in sealing the Kyuubi before sacrificing herself so her son may live and thrive, may she rest in peace.


	16. Aftermath

**MariDark: **_I'm sorry but it had to be done this way, but you have to agree that without the tragic losses and deaths the stories wouldn't be half so intoxicating!_

**Yashamaru Kotohime: **_Thank you, I don't intent to stop until the story is complete or my muse leaves me _

**4.300 hits – I'm so happy!**

**Chapter 15: Aftermath **

**Shambles**

And again Shinobu stood in the ruins of his life, destroyed and broken with the people important to him lost, gone forever because of a small oversight on his part. How had he overlooked this? How, how, HOW? Why didn't he think about the location of his parents during the Kyuubi attack? It was a Thursday of course his father was in the shop, of course his mother was visiting her friend in the lingerie shop to gossip. Was he destined to live this life with all the foreknowledge and in the end still couldn't do anything?  
With a small nod he identified the bodies of his parents, the white cloth was put back over the bodies and he was taken by a chunin to guide him out of the school gymnasium that served as morgue.  
A dry sob escaped Shinobu as wandered dazed through the damaged village, crying and pained faces everywhere, the burning smell of sulfur in the air. Shinobu would never ever forget this day, yes they had stopped Kyuubi from completely destroying Konoha, yes they had sealed him into Naruto-chan, yes Minato-sensei lived, but it seemed for every person he had saved or accomplishment fulfilled, he had sacrificed another. Was this the way it would be from now on? Changing the future at the cost of the people he loved? Would he start to calculate the worth of a changed event and what it would most likely cost?  
Shuddering Shinobu opened the front door of the house that he had called home for three years, the house that was filled with memories of the parents that had supported him in every decision he made, even if they often didn't know how to handle their genius son.  
The blue haired time traveler followed the hallway into the living room and to the connected kitchen and then upstairs into the other rooms.  
The house was in pristine condition not one item out of place or in some way damaged, Shinobu felt like fate was mocking him.

**Orphanage**

Shinobu was back to feeling numb when the civilian child service knocked on his door, he didn't really react to the questions about other relatives and found himself being bundled up, a few clothes put into a backpack and carried out of the door.  
The next thing that he remembered was that he was let down in front of a stern woman in her fifties, she was coming out of the building in front of them. Konoha Orphanage it read on the front of the large red house. The woman spoke shortly with the social service member and then took his hand without further comment and led him into the building.  
After walking through a nearly endless maze of hallways and rooms she finally pushed him into a room with six beds inside. Five were already occupied, children in varying sate of distress looked at him when the door opened, without comment they lowered their eyes and he stumbled onto the empty bed on the far left. Nobody spoke in the room, no introductions were made, the only noises were they occasional whimper and sob that escaped one of them.  
Shinobu finally fell into a restless sleep after waiting until the last of the traumatized children had succumbed to Morpheus. While he was lying awake in the dark room he tried to wrap his head around what just happened in the last hours, for all his genius he couldn't grasp the repercussions the 10th October had brought with it, at least not before he had some sleep.

**Masato Hideyoshi**

The next day Shinobu was awakened by the matron of the orphanage and he was told to pack his things together, confused and slightly irritated from being woken up when he had less than two hours of sleep he followed her.  
In the entrance room stood a red eyed Minato with a sleeping Naruto on his arm and another man that reminded Shinobu painfully of Sai. A quick chakra probe unmasked the man as ANBU Hawk, the sole survivor of the ANBU team that was in charge of their protection.  
While the ANBU was signing papers Minato hastily explained to Shinobu that because of his close contact with himself as well as his sharp mind the clans of Konoha and certain other undesirable people would make an attempt to adopt him, so to prevent any kind of political conflict and to protect Shinobus ability to do as he pleased he would be adopted by the ANBU that would retire with today's date.  
Shinobus new guardian had introduced himself as Masato Hideyoshi to the orphanage personnel, an artist and friend of Minato.  
The so called artist had light brown hair and eyes and with the exception of those two characteristics he looked exactly like the ANBU Root operative that Sakura had met under the name of Sai.  
The surreality aside, he was calm, collected and had a friendly aura around him. And tactful, dear god Shinobu had forgotten tactful, he had nearly expected him to be as blunt as the Shinobi Sakura had known, but nothing not the slightest insult or out of place comment as well as no awkward explanations from Shinobus side.

**Atelier**

On the way from the Orphanage to Shinobus new home the blue time traveler plucked little Naruto from obviously overwhelmed Minato and showed him the correct way of holding the baby which quieted the small whimpers down. The blonde Hokage looked like he hadn't had a wink of sleep since yesterday, to be honest, none of the three looked like it.  
They arrived in one of the outskirts of Konoha, right behind the underground ANBU facility that held the ANBU apartments, training rooms and medical wing.  
Their final destination was a property on the end of a small side street, almost directly bordering the mountain that served as foundation of the Hokage monument.  
It was a comparatively big piece of land in this part of the village.  
There were two buildings, the one upfront was a single story house that was vaguely U shaped with a little front garden, a picket fence and a dark blue roof.  
The group entered the house through the only door upfront. Inside the house there were no walls except the outer ones. The U shaped building contained a gallery with dozens of masterfully made paintings, sketches, sculptures and other art pieces. Shinobus eyes went wide and he couldn't help himself but take a closer look at the detailed vision of Konoha on a nearly three meter to two meter canvas. "Welcome to the Masato atelier, do you like them?" the softly voice let Shinobu turn around to see the ex ANBU smiling at him.  
With a last glance he turned around to give the slightly amused looking Minato and Hawk-san his full attention.  
"They are beautiful, did you paint them?" the blue haired boy asked curious "Yes, but let's continue, you will have enough time in the future to look at them."  
Shrugging his shoulders Shinobu followed the two other ninjas through the back door on the left U-end into a courtyard that contained slaps of stone and a pottery wheel and a small barn on the left side. The rest of the courtyard was grass and a few bushes and an apple tree on the right side.  
On the back side of the little garden there was a big two story house in the traditional Fire country building style, that is said with first story being larger than the second and the part that was left free from the second story being encased with roof tiles, again in a dark blue.  
They had crossed half of the courtyard when the side door of the main building was opened and a young woman with red brownish hair met them halfway. She had a small one year old toddler in her arms.  
"Ah Mitsuko there you are. This is Shinobu my new adopted son, he will be living with us from now on, and you already know Minato-sama of course." The woman gave a short bow to both Minato and Hideyoshi before she smiled at Shinobu and said "It's nice to meet you Shinobu, my name is Mitsuko and I take care of the household and little Hideaki here."


	17. Life goes on

**Kai Maciel: **_Ah I don't think so, for example __**esama,**__ those stories are absolute genius and they are 10.000 plus one shots most of the time – that's what I call a fast writer - to your story I think a Naruto as Sasuke's twin intriguing I haven't seen time travel like this before ._

**CarribeanTrinidadian: **_Thanks I'll do my best!_

**Maxmoquito: **_I know what you mean, it's like popcorn or chocolate, you start with one piece and then you can't really stop and have to have more and more ;)._

**MariDark: **_ oh you are so in for a surprise ;)._

**Melyss: **_thanks and ding, ding, ding we have a winner ;)._

**20.000 words or in other words 40 word pages yay!**

**I can't believe it 5.000 hits XD**

**Chapter 16: Life goes on**

**Masato Hideaki **

To be honest Shinobu had fought that nothing could shake him anymore, he had time traveled, switched gender, lost people dear to him again and again and just had a close call with Kyuubi the other day. Well fate seemed to like throwing him off balance, because he was relatively sure that that cute little toddler in front of him, that was playing with his lunch, was the same emotionally stunned Root-ANBU operative that had insulted Sakura on a regularly basis and later on had been one of her most loyal friends. Somehow Shinobu had the feeling that somewhere above him some deity had a good laugh at his expense.

**Planning**

Shinobu sat on the morning of the twelfth of October on the top of the Hokage monument and mulled over the last day and the plans Minato, Hideyoshi and himself had made.  
After lunch Hideyoshi had sent Mitsuko on a few errands that would occupy her most of the afternoon.  
They had gathered in the library, the room in the house that was most secure thanks to the implanted security seals that were provided as standard measurement for ANBU operatives. That morsel of information had come from Kushina during one of their study sessions, who had designed them, at that time she had taught him how to draw and later on disable them. The thought about his late sensei snuck up on Shinobu and then drove an arrow through his heart, he felt how his eyes were getting most and tried to distract himself with the interior of the room and the decorations and then came back to the security seals. Shinobu admired the subtle way they were implanted in the decorations on the walls and the sealing, really a very well done job! Kushina would have approved… It hurt, there was no denying it, it fucking hurt to think about the red haired woman that had been his sensei and crazy older sister for the last few months. 'Compartmentalize' Shinobu he said in his mind, trying to absorb the meaning of this word, 'You can't break at the moment, not with Konoha in such a delicate situation, compartmentalize!' with a deep breath Shinobu gave the other two men in room his full attention.  
With the seals active Minato and Shinobu informed Hideyoshi about Shinobus time traveler status; as Shinobus new primary caretaker it was important to know for Hideyoshi, after all a normal eight year old boy, no matter how much a genius he was, would have been kept out of such sensitive information as the security and future of the village. To his credit Hideyoshi took it in stride, or at least the shock had a delayed a reaction concerning this hhm interesting topic.  
The three of them had made a rough timeline for what they wanted to change and prepare for the next year, further they couldn't really plan because from now on the information Shinobu had would be less and less accurate.  
While the toddler and the newborn baby beside them slept peacefully through the afternoon, Team Safe Konoha as Kushina had named it after another long winded discussion round, conspired against Danzo and his Ne organization.  
Hideyoshi had first been against shutting down this part of Konohas forces because he thought that they had the important purpose of taking care of the more delicate business of Konoha. He changed his opinion rather rapidly when Shinobu informed him in a deadpan voice how she had met his son, the little toddler that was sleeping calmly at his side.  
Suffice to say Masato Hideyoshi was horrified at the fate that would have befallen little Hideaki had Shinobu not interfered.  
They also discussed Shinobus status as civilian and what would be the best course of action if they wanted to insert him in later years into the political scenery of Konoha.  
Shinobu had been suspiciously quiet through this topic and when asked by Minato what was wrong he blurted out that he didn't want to be a stuffy civilian politician, he wanted to be a ninja again.  
Ashamed of having blurted out this Shinobu turned away from the two adults and played forlorn with little Naruto.  
The next thing that Shinobu felt were two strong arms around him and him being cuddled into the warm body of the Yondaime Hokage, "I'm sorry, I should have noticed how you suffered by not being able to be a ninja anymore." Apologized Minato softly, and in his mind he was kicking himself, of course that wasn't a small civilian boy that had never seen battle. This was a hardened war veteran that was suddenly unable to fight and use techniques that had been a major part of his life. He had seen injured war veterans drown in this helplessness and despair, proud warriors who in the end were destroyed by their own humanity.  
They had decided that Hideyoshi would test the limits of Shinobus body, not being so close to the boy personally to the boy as the Hokage, he could evaluate his physical state better.  
They agreed anonymously to leave the topic for a later discussion and then came to speak about their biggest problem, Uchiha Madara and his time-space jutsu.  
Shinobu again made his concerns heard about how dangerous that man was and how he played the biggest role in the destruction of Sakuras Konoha. Shinobu stopped speaking in the middle of a sentence when he saw the satisfied smirk on Minatos face. Narrowing his eyes Shinobu asked "What did you do?". The blonde Hokage and just grinned before he finally gave in "You know I have to thank you Shinobu, your unique chakra condition may have given us a way to kill Madara…" confused and slightly hurt Shinobu waited for Minato to elaborate "K-Kushina and I have developed in the last months a seal that emulates your condition. It will take at least ten months to completely infect his chakra system but after that, I will just have to be in a twenty meter radius to activate the seal and cut of his ability to mold or sense chakra."  
Shinobu grinned at the rising sun while he snacked on the onigiri that Mitsuko had insisted on taking with him, Minatos words had stunned both Hideyoshi and himself into gaping silence. How could he forget that Minato was a hailed as a genius in the Academy books and this time they were right.  
He and Kushina had hopefully given them the advantage that they needed to finally eradicate Uchiha Madaras existence from this planet.  
After finishing his breakfast Shinobu jogged down the monument, he had promised to meet with Anko and her friend Yugao.

**Harunos**

During a trip through Konoha to his new home his unconsciousness lead him to the building that had been the Haruno house in another live.  
Feeling nostalgic Shinobu threw a covert glance into the garden of the house and really there he could see Sakuras parents playing with a toddler, just that that the toddler had RED HAIR!  
Completely flabbergasted Shinobu made his way back to the Masato atelier. The next day after his training with Shiranui sensei he made a B-line for the main patient archive and told the nurse on duty that he was conducting a research into his family line. Being a fixture and a celebrated prodigy he was let in without any fuss and wasn't even supervised.  
First Shinobu snatched the files of his late parents and grandparents to have an alibi should the nurse come back and then he went three rows down to the letter H and took out the file of Haruno Sumire, there on the last page was a birth certificate. But it didn't read 28th of March, it read 2nd of April and the name wasn't Sakura it was Hiriki. The Harunos didn't have a little pink haired girl named Sakura as their daughter, no they had called their red haired daughter Hiriki – fire strength, after Haruno Kisukes red haired mother.  
Numb and slightly dazed Shinobu made his way back to the Atelier; it seemed that his appearance in this time had completely destroyed Haruno Sakuras existence.


	18. Author's note 2

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry to bother you with another Authors note but this is important.

I won't be updating for the next week or two, I just don't have the strength at the moment to do anything – a cousin of mine who was only a few years older died in a motorbike accident and yeah, the last few days have been pretty hard on me and my family.

So sorry I will try to update soon but no promises.


	19. Meetings 3

_Thank you for your condolences and support, it has helped a lot and I'm soooooo sorry for taking so long, I spent most of my summer holidays working and doing nothing in my free time, so now that the university begins again and I should learn, my muse is back surprise, surprise! XD_

**Chapter 17: Meetings 3**

**Aburame Reika**

It had been a week since the Kyuubi attack and everyone had been quite busy with the aftermath of the destruction.  
Minato was still mourning his wife as well as trying to take care of Naruto alone… It wasn't working.  
Hideyoshi and Shinobu finally convinced him to employ a housekeeper to help him with the household and Naruto. They even took over the preliminary interviews.  
After a long discussion about the pro's and con's of the many potentials, the three males finally agreed on the shy Aburame Reika, a civilian of the Aburame clan that had experience with children thanks to her 9 year younger sister. The young Aburame woman had been raised just as many other civilian girls of the more prominent clans to become the perfect housewife to either secure alliances for their clans or become the mothers of the next clan generation.  
Reika who just had turned 17 the month before was now practically useless to her clan as a bargain chip or bearer of the next generation. During one of the last attacks on Fire country soil, Iwa nins had released poison gas into one of the Aburame owned fruit plantation, thankfully only a few people were affected, but those who were had become infertile.  
Reika had been unfortunate enough to visit the plantation on that day and the shy woman was now desperately in search of an occupation that would prove her worth to her family.  
The Aburame clan was one of the more moderate clans in Konoha and Shibi, the new clan head would have gladly taken over for his shy cousins living expenses for the rest of her live, but the pretty black haired girl didn't want to accept the generous offer. Her pride and self worth had been thoroughly damaged by her inability and she was desperately grasping on straws until she heard about the housekeeper job in the house of their very own Hokage.  
The day after the interview Reika was hired.

**The assessment **

The assessment of Shinobu was after things had finally calmed down a bit. They concentrated on taijutsu and his skills with weapons, because ninjutsu and genjutsu were not possible, at least not yet.  
He surprised his guardian with the strength of his punches. Thanks to the reinforced muscles and bones his punches and strikes hurt, even a retired ANBU had to acknowledge this. On the down side his speed left a lot to be desired, he was faster than a normal civilian adult but that was it. Even his enhanced body could do nothing for him on the speed side of the ninja skills. Shinobu was frustrated about this issue because it meant that he would always be slower than any other ninja at his Taijutsu level, and that meant he would lose.  
To the exact same conclusion did his guardian come, after they had finished their spar. After lunch he informed Shinobu that starting next week he should expect a training schedule worked into his daily routine.  
Shinobu felt a shiver running down his spine, he wasn't sure what that meant but it couldn't be good. And Shinobu was write Hideyoshi was an absolute slave driver!

**Naruto**

Naruto-chan was the most adorable baby that Shinobu had ever met, even little Hideaki with his big eyes didn't hold a candle to this little ball of sunshine, he was always laughing or giggling all the time and as soon as he came into the babbling stage, Shinobu had to control himself to not coo at him. He wasn't succeeding with the way Minato-sensei sent him amused looks.  
Funnily enough Kakashi had just an as hard time as Shinobu, the silver haired Jounin pulled faces through his mask to make Naruto laugh when he thought that nobody was looking. Thankfully Shinobu had purchased a camera that nowadays accompanied him nearly everywhere. He had a pretty decent blackmail folder on a larger percentage of the Konoha ninja forces!

**Itachi**

Shinobu met Itachi the first time when the Uchiha prodigy was five years old. He had accompanied his father to the Hokage's house where Fugaku wanted to discuss a change of the Military Police force. Shinobu who had a lesson in politics before, took Itachi and Naruto out into the garden.  
Itachi was a really quite child for his age and nearly painfully polite to his elders, with his mature way of speaking and that pipsqueak voice he was absolutely adorable and Shinobu had to hold back or he would have pinched the little black haired boy's cheeks.  
Through careful prodding Shinobu found out that Itachi has a serious weakness for Poky and any other dish with tons of sugar. After some awkward pauses in their conversation, Shinobu can somehow pull the introverted Uchiha into a conversation about sweets. When it's time to leave the little boy surprises him with a real smile.  
A week after their first encounter Itachi starts at the Academy and is hailed as a genius. From then on whenever Shinobu sees the little black boy he slips him sweets and tries to take his mind off of his training and the expectations of his clan. One of their most discussed topics is Sasuke, the thought of his younger brother never fails to make Itachi smile and relax.  
When he graduates only a year later, Shinobu gives him a sketch book and a big stash of sweets. He tells him that with all the ninja stuff at home and now also with his team, a little bit distraction would help him relax.  
During the two years since the Kyuubi attack Shinobu sees how the pressure on Itachi's shoulders gets bigger and bigger and there is nothing that he can do but watch. It's like a train wreck, you know it will crash but you somehow can't take your eyes off it.  
The day after Itachi's first kill during a mission, it is Shinobu that holds him while he cries and it is also Shinobu that puts him to sleep in the Hokage's house.  
Minato is furious and makes his disapproval and frustration known to both Itachi's genin sensei as well as his parents. The expectations on Itachi don't stop, but at least the missions are adjusted accordingly.

**Departure**

Two years after the Kyuubi attack Jiraiya came finally back to Konoha. Naruto, who was now two years old, was a hyperactive blonde whirlwind that the so called adults had trouble keeping up with. He had put more than one ANBU squad in panic when he suddenly vanished and they couldn't find him anymore, to be found an hour later sleeping in the washing machine. Till today no one had the slightest idea how he came to be there. Hideaki was not one ounce better and together the little hellions made the ANBU protection squads tremble in their sandals and fear for their sanity.

Anyway after Jiraiya's update about the other Elemental countries, he proposed to Shinobu a deal that he couldn't pass up. Jiraiya had located Tsunade relatively close to Konoha and with an order written from Minato, Tsunade would have to teach Shinobu in medical techniques. And so Shinobu found himself on fine June morning on the way to the second biggest gambling city in the Fire country to be apprenticed under Senju Tsunade…. again.


	20. Travelling

**Aliya87:** _In the last two months I wrote some parts of the events further down in the story but my muse left me when I was trying to connect them with the rest of the story XD, I just couldn't find the right words,… and honestly I was too lazy to do much during the holidays,…I know I suck -_-"._

**MariDark:** _I'm glad you like my Itachi :D, you know when my imagination runs wild and I think about Akatsuki, I always see them in their headquarters and Itachi tsukuyomi-ing Hidan for stealing his chocolate-mint ice cream ;D._

**Melyss:**_ I'm glad to be back __, the comments I get from you folks are totally addicting, seriously it's a huge boost to my ego!_

**Kalmkiva**: _I will try to make it be weekly as I have done before but no promises._

**sdfjkcew**: _;D just you wait I have some pretty mean (hilarious) stuff in mind for Shin-chan, he is going to suffer (muhahahaha)._

**vantweet**: _Hhhm, you'll have to tell me if it was how you expected it to be __. Anyway THANK YOU, it's really nice that you point out grammar mistakes for me, I have proof read this story again and again and I still keep missing mistakes so it's a huge help for me to get them pointed out._

_**Advertisement**__: Hi there, don't you hate the ads right before the movie starts, or worse the one's that interrupt it? Anyway, I'm just as annoying, I have Harry Potter fic starting today and it would be really awesome from you guys if you check it out and tell me what you think about it __._

Shishou: teacher, master

**Chapter 18: Travelling**

**Slug Princess**

If Tsunade wasn't easy to deal with when Sakura was a girl, she was nearly impossible to get along with as boy. Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that Shinobu was forced on her and not her own idea.  
The slug princess had flat out refused to train him the moment Jiraiya had told her why they were here. Only a direct written down order from the Hokage and the threat of being recalled to the village made Tsunade comply.  
The first week Shinobu was sent out for the stupidest errands and had to deal with a completely drunk Tsunade.  
When she finally gave him a lesson, it was a so ridiculous difficult one with so much detail that if he hadn't had the knowledge from Sakuras life plus that of the civilian curriculum, he would have never been able to solve even one of her questions, with his knowledge he could at least answer every third or fourth.  
Only after the first positive results Tsunade started to ease up on him and began to explain the basics first and the details later. Still, if Tsunade was in one of her moods she would rattle off a list of technical jargon and expected to be followed and understood. Sheesh more often than not Shinobu whished his new shishou to the moon, but even those thoughts stopped after the first three weeks into his apprenticeship, he was to exhausted from the medical information assault and taijutsu drills to think of anything else than eat, sleep, duck and pain.  
His only thoughts were 'Don't complain, she will ease up, she is just stubborn, don't complain' but it was really really hard to keep his mouth shut during this torture!  
His enhanced body was a true blessing in that time, the chakra in his body repaired most of the major damage during the night, and he did first aid on the things that hadn't healed.  
The first two months blurred somehow together, even with his exceptional memory Shinobu couldn't for his live remember even one day clearly.  
If he had known how Hideaki's training schedule had looked tame in comparison to Tsunade's, he would probably have high tailed back to Konoha the minute he realized this. After some thought he had to take it back, in comparison of the treasure of information he received, it was well worth it. He had learned more about medical jutsus and the human body in three months than during a year of his apprenticeship with Shiranui-sensei, and this was absolutely exhilarating!  
During all this time of Tsunade being down right devious, Shizune was an angel in disguise. Behind the back of her mentor she fed him and helped him to bed when he couldn't move anymore and sometimes even gave massages to relieve the pain of his tortured body.

**Interlude: Tsunade**

The blonde haired slug princess sat brooding in a small booth of the nearest sake bar that she could find and was contemplating her newest involuntary apprentice 'That GAKI, unbelievable,… unfuckingbelievable! He had solved,… '.  
Reminiscing about the last 3 months she looked into her sake cup.  
After Jiraiya left she had put the boy through hell. Tsunade knew that she was totally unfair to the blue haired boy that had been forced on her by the Yondaime, but still she was feeling vindictive and wanted somebody to suffer and if she completely crushed the hopes of a little brat so be it, it could only help to get a taste of real life that early! And maybe even sent a message to Jiraiya's brat, new Hokage or not you don't force Senju Tsunade without feeling the consequences!  
But that snott-nosed stubborn boy hadn't given up, and had even answered an impressive number of theoretical problems, whoever taught him the basics hand done something right. Reluctantly she had reconsidered and started easing up with the occasional temper tantrum in between and then she had added physical training to the plate of that slip of a boy.  
She thought that would be enough to make him beg to be sent home, but it didn't, so unbelievable stubborn and proud. She steeled her heart against the guilt and the pity that she felt after the first session and continued.  
This changed after she visited him six weeks into his training in his room to inform him about additional reading materials and he was lying twitching and whimpering on the bed with tears running down his cheeks, apparently asleep without having healed himself.  
Without a word she had approached him to heal the worst damage to his body without being too obvious and discovered his crippled chakra system. Fuck if that wasn't a nasty surprise! She had nearly thrown up then and there, she had assumed he would heal himself after every session, after all he had the theoretical knowledge about the basics and no medic-nin student advanced further in his or her studies before perfecting the basic jutsus. She had put him through hell the last few weeks without checking his healing process, what kind of medic was she? To sink so low to start a training program without all the facts!  
Disturbed and disgusted with herself Tsunade rushed into her room and picked out the medical files of Shinobu that had been a part of the package Jiraiya left for her.  
She went completely white when she read the age of the boy, he was only 10 years old, he looked at least like thirteen! Her faced turned positively green as she read the rest of the file, chakra system crippled at 5, highest IQ of his generation, apprenticeship at 6 under Shiranui sensei (civilian doctor), parents killed in Kyuubi attack at 8, witnessed several deaths between the ages of 6 and 10, abnormal fast healing rate (as a possible result if his attack at 5, S-class classified), eidetic memory, adopted by Masato Hideaki 8, apprenticeship Masato Hideaki in painting and drawing 8, skills:…  
Fucking hell! She most likely destroyed the biggest medic or otherwise talent of this century! The Yondaime was going to either imprison her for live or execute her for her misconduct, and rightfully so! This little 10 year old boy could be the key to revolutionize the way of healing and she had nearly beaten the boy to death!

Chuckling bitterly Tsunade swallowed the rest of the sake, back then she had nearly committed suicide, out of shame. But she had pulled herself together, after all she owed the little brat big time for going that far. And now he was surprising her everyday with new ways to overcome his handicap, that stubborn brat!

**Changes**

Nearly two months of absolute hell, and suddenly a relatively moderate training schedule; to be honest it was quite similar to that that Sakura had been used to.  
Shinobu had been right about Tsunade, she really just needed time to vent her frustrations before she could turn into a decent teacher.  
She now even started to heal the worst damage that she dealt him and finally took interest into his medical condition. Shinobu had hoped for this, because if anyone could somehow help him it would be Tsunade.  
Now that he finally had the energy to do things after Tsunade's training, he started to pick up drawing again. It was relaxing and took of his mind of the newly learned information.  
In the time he slowly won the approval of Tsunade he struck up a friendship with the seven year older Shizune that started to give him tips how to avoid the slug princess's moods and defuse situations that could easily turn violent.  
After the first few days Shizune even joined him while he was drawing in the evenings and they started discussion different topics, it reminded him so much of the times with Minato, Rin and Kakashi that he was suddenly attacked by a viscous, downright underhanded homesickness that forced tears into his eyes and closed his throat.


	21. Travelling 2

**Guest**: _Huh, you're right, it takes the seriousness out of the chapter, so I corrected both chapters, thank you for your input, I really appreciate constructive criticism__. _

**CaribbeanTrinidadian**: _Thank you, will do _

**MariDark**: _That he is :D_

**shirokuromokona: **_Shinobu and Naruto against each other, hhm okay, for Shinobu to win that would mean at least one kidnapping, the next 10 to 15 missions being a disaster, food poisoning, a chocolate shortage, some kind of contagious non lethal illness in Konoha that they can't figure out and Shinobu has to spend all his free time on it, etc.  
As for Shinobu and Naruto together… ARE YOU CRAZY? Do you want the destruction of Konoha and the surrounding Fire Country? Those two will never ever ever be allowed to play together, the repercussions would be to big 0_0!_

Kami**: **God

Nee-chan: Sister, older sister

Shotacon: a person that is attracted to young boys or young looking teenagers

_Concerning my HP-fic, ugh, let's just not go there, I went back online a few hours after I posted it and I found four, FOUR grammar mistakes in the first two chapters, along with sentences that just didn't make any sense, and the story hadn't even begun yet! I don't know what I was thinking, must have still been asleep. Anyway I will take it down, take some time to review it and maybe post it again. Sorry for pointing it out to you -_-"._

**Chapter 19: Travelling 2**

**Lady Luck**

Gambling machines and literally anything where luck was needed loved Shinobu, that he found out the moment he sat in front of one when Tsunade was in one of her moods and dragged him with her to the local casino hall.  
It didn't matter where he played, he always won something, it was eerier! Just like Narutos luck, the luck that Sakura and the rest of Konoha eleven dubbed compensation for always landing in the worst situations... Oh god, please no! He really didn't need that on top of everything else!

**Gambling**

The moment Tsunade found out about Shinobus unreal luck was the final turning point in their relationship, thanks to her elated mood it turned from grudging respect for his quick mind and stubbornness to rough fondness and until she was finally proud of his accomplishments and progress, though she wouldn't even under torture admit this.  
They quickly found a routine that worked for both of them, Shinobu would win a lot of money and let Tsunade loose a big percentage of it. This lifted her mood considerably because it meant that they weren't chased out of every other village or she had to borrow money from the yakuza. It also kept the casino management of Shinobus back, because which casino liked to lose a lot of money?  
Civilians and samurai may have called it bribing Tsunade, but Shinobu was a ninja and he saw it more as a strong non violent persuasion technique.

The gambling had also a nice side effect of paying for the more expensive hotels and spa resorts, which immensely pleased Tsunade and secretly also the little squealing Sakura inside of Shinobu, that had always bemoaned the fact that she couldn't indulge into regular spa treatments like Ino had been able to.

**Jiraiya**

Seven months into his training under Tsunade, Jiraiya showed up again and took him away for roughly a month to do so called information gathering and training.  
Shinobu traveled with the white haired shinobi to a slightly bigger town at the border of the Fire country. There he first tested Shinobus skills as well as his reaction time and after the first few days that he had used to put Shinobu through physical hell, even more so because he couldn't heal the worst after the sparring like Tsunade, he announced that Shinobu was now good enough to try himself on sage mode. By the maniacal grin that the Sannin had on his face Shinobu wasn't particularly looking forward to that experience.

**Sage Mode**

Sage mode was NOT easy, and Shinobu gritted his teeth while he tried again to find the right kind of mind set.  
While he could influence the chakra currents and even direct them against their normal flowing order, Shinobu had never tried to harness the energy into his body, he thought he couldn't, but after Tsunade's explanation he felt at least inclined to try it.  
Taking a deep breath Shinobu muttered half audible words while he sat in the seiza style and concentrated on his body and the currents within, 'Okay calm down, breathe, feel the currents around you, be a part of them, breathe, concentrate on your chakra network, breathe,…'  
Taking deep calm breathes Shinobu opened his eyes just as Jiraiya had instructed and promptly lost concentration. With a defeated sigh he stretched his muscles a bit and settled down to try again, Sage mode was defiantly not easy!

**The red light district**

Shinobu couldn't believe what Jiraiya did, that irresponsible PERVERT! He left him in a brothel, a BROTHEL! Never mind that the old man knew that he had the mind of a twenty-three year old (seventeen plus six years in the new timeline), he still was in the body of an eleven year old brat! What was that idiot thinking? Probably nothing at all!  
Sucking in a calming breath he turned and greeted the women that had gathered to inspect their young guest.  
In the years that would come Shinobu would think back fondly and shake his head at how fast the nee-chans had welcomed him and treated him like he had been one of them his whole life.

**Unexpected tutor**

Shinobu shivered the first time he took a closer look at the black haired lady with the red painted fingernails and the flimsy kimono; that had sat down across from him, that should be one of the caretakers for the next few hours? She cooed at him and her eyes became more sparkly with every second that went by, SCARY! He wasn't sure if he should hide or hightail out of this … questionable establishment. He was going to be eaten alive!

**Hair**

Shinobu would never admit it but he liked how the nee-chans had combed and played with his hair. He hid it well but Shinobu was rather proud of his long thick blue hair that reached a little bit below his shoulders.  
It could have been because Sakura never had a chance to grow it out again in her previous life but he really like the length to it and Naruto-chan had too, at least it was a pretty good guess by the way he had always found a way to yank on it or put it into his mouth.  
And so he was secretly or not so secretly, by the looks that were sent to him, preening when the older women played with it and put it in various styles without making him look girly, …well too girly.

**Kimono (Jiraiya Interlude)**

When Jiraiya finally came back he couldn't believe his eyes, he thought that leaving the brat in the brothel to squirm for a few hours was absolute hilarious and maybe a lesson for being such a smartass.  
He certainly didn't expect the change of attire and attitude in the afternoon that he was gone. That couldn't be happening!  
Thanks to the tasteful dark blue kimono with the silver stitching and silver obi and the way he lounged on the window still the little eleven year old brat looked downright seductive in an innocent way. When he turned to the old Sannin, Jiraiya caught a glimpse of silver chopsticks in the now up do hairstyle.  
Jiraiya was royally fucked, how could he have known that one of the cough professionals cough in this establishment had taken to dress and teach the small blue haired boy a few tricks? And that said boy had taken to these teachings! Okay Jiraiya had to admit that the little boy was pretty good looking if not downright beautiful, far outshining any girl his age, and that leaving him in a brothel like this could be an indirect request to teach him. But, but that didn't mean that he would seriously agree to him being educated in the arts of seduction and entertaining, at least not here, the seduction corpse back at Konoha was a lot better equipped to deal with shinobi… what the hell, bad thoughts, bad thoughts!  
God damn it, he may have as well dug his own grave this time. Jiraiya was sure that neither Shizune nor Tsunade would be pleased over the change in Shinobu, and for god's sake he didn't even want to think about what Minato and Kakashi would do to him if they found out.

**Payback**

Hhm, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing Jiraiya getting mangled for leaving him in a brothel. Shinobu stretched himself and bit into his dango ball while lounging on the wooden bench in front of the bar Tsunade and Jiraiya had agreed on as their meeting point.  
His kimono was slightly askew and gave a tantalizing view on his calves and one knee, even if he was only eleven years old, this body had developed nicely, he looked older, around 13 to 14 and this view of his legs already drew a lot of dangerous attention from perverts and shotacons.  
But Shinobu wasn't acknowledging any of the gazes sent in his direction, he was concentrating on the happenings in front of him. He decided then and there that even if his newly learned skills in wardrobe and manners would never be of use for the rest of his life, the black and blue pattern on Jiraiya's body made it totally worth it.


	22. Healing and the joys of growing up

**Yuyui**: T_hank you __. _

**MariDark**: _That he is! Oh that topic will come up again believe me! :D_

**vantweet**: _*blushes* Oh thank you! Interesting idea BUT as much as I love Itachi, he won't be paired up with Shinobu._

**shirokuromokona: **_:D yes, yes Shinobu is in a dilemma, does he want a boy or a girl,… and to the romance in the story, to be honest I haven't decided yet, I have a pairing in mind but I'm not sure if I will only hint at it or really concentrate on this pairing, so yeah depends in which mood I am __._

**Yuyumi**: T_hank you, I'm glad you like it. At the moment it's a little hard to say when the next chapter is posted, I have a lot to do at the Uni and my muse is at the moment more interested in Harry Potterx One Piece, so I am also writing an Crossover on the side (I'll post the first chapters after I have decided on a good story line)._

**dimensiontimetraveler**: Tehe :D, I love Jiraiya, I think it's one of the most awesome characters in the Naruto verse, and like with all my favorite charas I LOVE to see them suffer :D.

**InsertUniqueName**: _Thanks __. _

**Chapter 20: Healing and the joys of growing up**

**Breakthrough**

Some things just didn't change, it didn't matter which year it was, the moment Senju Tsunade was interested in a medical condition she wouldn't let go until she found a satisfying answer, be it good or bad. Luckily for Shinobu, this time Tsunade was even more invested in the case. The 42 year old medic ritually checked Shinobu's chakra system every other day and after that she tried different ways of animating his chakra. Which to be honest, wasn't very comfortable at the best times and downright painful at the worse when she tried to shove his chakra through his chakra points.  
As so often in history a fluke was responsible for Tsunade's breakthrough. After another painful session of trying to open the chakra points Tsunade had frustrated as she was slapped her still chakra filled hand onto his elbow and somehow opened the two tenketsu points above the joint. Wide eyed both looked at each other. Trying to replicate the exact proceedings the slug princess slapped Shinobu on the tenketsu point on his lower arm. Nothing happened. Calming herself the medic sent chakra in the now open chakra points to see in which condition they were and maybe find a clue about how she had opened them.  
Shinobu sat anxiously in his place on the tatami matt and waited until his Shishou was finished.  
A triumphal laugh escaped Tsunade, she had finally found it! With a shit eating grin she turned to the little squirt in front of her. "Well looks like we finally made a break through, I now know why we couldn't open your chakra system from within. Whatever that jutsu was that hit you, solidified the chakra inside your tenketsu as well as a small part inside your system. It functioned like a stopper because the crystallized chakra was bigger than the tenketsu point your chakra couldn't get through and when I used force it just damaged the tenketsu point. So instead from opening from the inside we have to open them from outside!" "All 361?" Shinobu wasn't sure if he should be ecstatic or panicking, some of these points where in some 'ahem' private places. "Yes all 361 you brat!" with a sigh Shinobu sat down before her again. This time he couldn't hide his grin, even if this procedure was totally embarrassing, Tsunade had finally found a way to heal his condition. He would be able to use jutsus once more!

In the end the procedure took nearly a whole month because Tsunade had to operate him after every 10 opened tenketsu points to remove the crystallized junks that were floating through his system and could potential either block his points again or even damage his path ways!  
They celebrated Shinobus healing with a epic Sake binge at the local bar for Tsunade and Shinobu gorged himself on all kinds of different chocolate desserts, forget nectar and ambrosia, this was the food of the gods!

**Boys and Girls**

The first time Shinobu caught himself checking out girls, he was absolutely horrified, he wasn't gay, he,… ah well, hhm okay, maybe he/ she was back to square one of the gender confusion situation.  
Kami-damned hormones!  
So he started to really pay attention to were his eyes wandered during the day.  
The conclusion: He/she liked both genders. Well, hell THAT didn't solve his problem at ALL!  
Shinobu decided to push romantic possibilities to the back of his head, when it happened, it happened! But he would surely not deal with this headache ensuring issue now!

**Poisons, Antidotes and the joys of adolescence **

While Tsunade concentrated on Shinobu's combat training and finally started with the jutsus at full swing after his 12 birthday, Shizune took it on herself to teach him everything she knew about Poisons and their Antidotes.  
For that reason they travelled as far as Gem country to find rare plants and collect their seeds. It was also Shizune that sat him through "the talk", as downright mortifying as it was, Shinobu was touched that Shizune was concerned enough for his wellbeing that she broached the topic of contraception jutsus and sexual diseases. Smiling at the normally shy and very proper medic nin, Shinobu explained to her how he had already known most of it, with the exception of the male contraception jutsus and that he would be careful. After all he wasn't sure if she would believe him if he told her that at the moment a sexual or even only romantically relationship was at the bottom of his priorities, he had a village to protect and a future to change after all.

**Letters and presents **

Half a year into his travelling the blue haired boy got a rather irate letter from Anko about how he never wrote them. So Shinobu made it a habit that whenever they reached a new town or village, the first thing after procuring a hotel room and eating was writing a letter to his friends. Updating them on trivial things like the weather, the town gossip and non blackmail material on Shizune and Tsunade, he sometimes also included sketches of the village and surrounding area to hone his skills and give his loved ones back in Konoha a better picture of where he was. After winning a camera in a tombola he also started to include photos of the landscape, himself and his two teachers. He even caught Jiraiya once or twice being chased down by irate females.  
These letters as well as his homework for Minato, detailed intel reports about the political climate in the places they visited where sent every other week with slug summons back to Konoha.


	23. Konoha politics and consequences

**Kai** **Maciel**: _I know, I know, haha I'm so glad that you understand exactly what I've been thinking about in the last week, I have problems deciding how much about the change I should put into the story and which parts are appropriate. Gender change is a rather interesting topic isn't it? _

**shirokuromokona**_I love embarrassing Shinobu I just couldn't resist _

**vantweet**_: Oh this is so nice of you thank you, *laughs* maybe I can squeeze it in somewhere ;) or make an spin off :D_

**Random thought** _Thank you but you jinxed me ;) I hit a bit of a block but now I'm back, I want to finish this bit of fanfiction it has been haunting me for nearly 3 years and I finally sat my ass down and began to write, to the Itachi- Uchiha problem I don't know yet I have to see in which mood I am when I write it, we will see _

**MariDark**_Yes I finally gave in and gave him his chakra back, just a hint Shinobu will need it in the near future _

**Nessa671 **_Sorry it took so long._

**Shad0w W0lf**_Thank you again for the fanart, your mail was the catalyst for me writing again :D_

**Yuyui** _I'm glad you like it, I don't know why but embarrassing and confusing my characters is just so much fun :D_

Awesome Shinobu fanart from **Shad0w W0lf** #/d5n2vmg

**Chapter 21: Konoha politics and consequences**

**The Kumo incident**

For a few weeks Shinobu had had a bad feeling, he was forgetting something, something important, but as much as he tried to remember he couldn't think of anything. That was until he read through the most recent letter in which Minato complained about the Kumo delegation that was scheduled to arrive in a few days and how it had sent the security committee, as he called the ANBU captain, the T&I head and the Head of the Police Force into a frenzy.  
A shudder ran down Shinobu's back, oh kami, HINATA and Neji's father Hizashi! Somehow he had to prevent this incident that had cost Neji his childhood and had turned him bitter until the Chunin exams.  
Shinobu wrote hastily a quick summary about the incident and it political consequences and sent it back to Minato. Hopefully he wouldn't be too late! The following days Shinobu sat like on needles, Minato hadn't replied since his hasty message and he was fearing the worst when finally a Frog summon arrived with a message.  
_They are fine!  
You can calm down Shinobu, everything went just fine.  
The incident played out to a T from what you have told me. I had extra ANBU teams positioned around the Uchiha and the Hyuuga clan compounds, as well as some of the more minor clans. The Kumo ambassador was caught by the ANBU team and during interrogation he spilled about Kumo's true intentions…_

Minato raised a lot of stink about this and the knowledge of Kumo's behavior during peace talks was spread like a wildfire through the shinobi nations, leading to a lot of embarrassment for the village hidden in the Clouds.  
Minato used this and demanded retribution in form of a slightly changed treaty that favored Konoha as well as the execution of the ambassador. Kumo had no other choice but to comply to save face.  
After all doing covert missions is one thing, getting caught is another altogether.

**Danzo and Corruption (Minato Interlude)**

After the Kumo incident had played out in their favor, Minato finally had time to take in the situation inside of the village. One of the most important goals was the destruction of Root as well as the Danzo problem. Minato had watched the old war hawk carefully the last few years and came to the conclusion that he was too dangerous to let him continue to live. Danzo had been undermining his authority everywhere he could, he also had tried to sabotage the defenses of Konoha for his own personal gains, putting their ninja and civilians at risk, Minato just couldn't let this affront slide.  
At the next council meeting he had let his head medic use a tasteless, odorless paralytic poison in the general tea pot; it had taken everyone by surprise, even Minato himself had been affected until he was given the antidote.  
After Danzo had been taken to Interrogation in a secret facility that had been built with only him in mind, Minato had set down new rules in the Council, he had told the Clan heads as well as the retired shinobi that he wouldn't stand a day anymore for the political backstabbing and power hoarding inside Konoha, that they either had to suck it up and work together or be relieved of their tasks as advisors. That harangue was underlined by a strong portion killer intent that Minato spread. The council, which had been used to an always friendly and open Hokage had been completely shocked into silence while they waited until the effect of the antidote took effect, they all left in a hurry after that.  
The interrogation of Danzo brought even more grueling information to the light, how he had been responsible for the isolation of the Uchiha's and how he had taken to ignite fights between civilian clans and also ninja clans to further his political and personal goals. The more information landed on Minato's desk, the more he was horrified, it seemed there was no end to Danzo schemes, for every of his plans there was a back up plan.  
To begin, directly after the fateful Council meeting Sarutobi had asked for a private meeting and pleaded with Minato to think such drastic measures over and if it was really necessary. Minato had just looked disbelieving at his sensei's sensei and without another word shoved a file into his hand about what they had already found out. He left his predecessor in the side room of the Hokage's office while he had a meeting with the trade guild of Konoha to discuss with them their blatant corruption and bribes directly under his nose, which had harmed Konoha's economy devastatingly.  
The former third Hokage had been devastated by the folder Minato had given him and had hid himself inside his Clan compound while he grieved for not only losing a former rival/ friend but also his trust in his teammates, who had been involved in a lot of the corruption and maneuvering against him during his reign.  
The fourth Hokage on the other hand had been absolutely furious after more and more of the corruption came to the forefront, and not only from Danzo and his backers. Minato couldn't believe how many people had been or were still involved in this, how dare they damage his beloved Konoha, the village he had sacrificed his son and wife for!  
Namikaze Minato ripped through the corrupt parts of the Konoha administrative body like a whirlwind. His technique the flying Thunder god became another meaning; those who had benefited and filled their pockets with money allocated for the good of Konoha were struck down and destroyed. This left the not yet found out one's in constant fear and anxiety. In the next year more trials, sentences and executions were held then during the reign of the first, second and third Hokage combined.  
The Clan heads that at first had been outraged about Minato's approach, threw their weight behind their Hokage after they saw how everybody was treated the same, be it civilian noble or Konoha shinobi. If somebody had done something to harm Konoha and it's citizen, they were tried, sentenced and depending on their deeds executed or imprisoned.  
The sudden 360°C change of the fourth Hokage left the spies of the other shinobi villages reeling. Konoha may have always been one of the strongest villages concerning the ninja force, but it's corruption and internal fights had always given them a slight handicap. Now thanks to the new Hokage, those weaknesses were eradicated and that left the other village to scramble and try to negotiate with the now truly most powerful village in the shinobi countries.

During this time of spring cleaning, the only thing that kept Minato relatively sane, were the ever smiling Naruto, his former team as well as the letters from Shinobu. Those were the things that kept him going and not drown in his frustration and despair.

**Root (Minato Interlude)**

The root fraction was another major headache that Minato had had to take care of. After it had been left leaderless by the imprisonment of Danzo, Minato had given the T&I division as well as the Hunter nin squad control over them. The ANBU forces were already stretched too thin with missions, patrols as well as the sustainable loss they had taken after the Kyuubi attack, to take care of the 60 ninja strong personal army of Danzo.  
Nearly the whole Yamanaka clan worked day and night to free the child and teenage operatives from the mind control and secrecy jutsus. The partly untrained children that they had found in underground barracks were relocated into the underground facilities of the Black Ops where they were trained by injured operatives or operatives on leave. They had all been already brainwashed and so couldn't be raised in the orphanages. Minato felt guilty about steeling their childhood from them, but there was no other way. The brainwash jutsu was irreversible; the only thing that he could do was to give them training and provide them with as much childhood as possible under these circumstances.  
But while one part of Minato's brain was felling guilty and always seeing Naruto and especially Hideaki in the faces of the Root children, the cold and calculating part of his brain was already going over the possibilities what the boosted Black Ops would be capable of with the new and future additions.

**Kakashi (Minato Interlude)**

Minato had seen it coming, but when it happened he still wasn't prepared for it. Kakashi had become an ANBU operative a year before Shinobu had left. At only 15 he had been one of their most valuable operatives. Because he was still in his first ANBU year the missions were thankfully interrupted with months long down time, during which he could take normal missions and reconnect with his friends, but since the day Shinobu had left, Kakashi had been nearly constantly on missions, with only a week long down time at most between them.  
Kakashi had made captain at 16, the youngest in Konoha's history and since than his reputation had grown in all Shinobi countries and his Bingo Book entrances were regularly updated to include even higher bounties. The blonde Hokage didn't admit it openly, but he was very concerned about his student's safety and mental stability, this couldn't continue like this.  
Sadly Minato had been right, at the age of nearly 20 Kakashi was exhausted, the last mission had given him not only a mental break down but part of his body had been damaged, the medics told him that it would take at least 4 months to completely heal.  
And because of the mental break down he had to be worked over by the Yamanaka specialists that took care of the mental health of the Black Ops ninjas. The psychological tests and probes showed a ninja that was mentally a lot older then he was physically as well as close to losing his grip on reality. As a result the medical personnel recommended an at least two year long break from the ANBU missions to recover a semblance of a normal life. After receiving this news Minato relieved Kakashi temporary from his ANBU duties with the approval of the ANBU Commander.


End file.
